The Kinetics of Serum Ferritin

Abstract

The mean serum ferritin in normal dogs averaged 24 ng/ml which is similar to the level in normal man. The plasma clearance of recrystallized ferritin was determined by changes in the serum level or by the clearance of ferritin tagged with 125I or 59Fe. Clearance half times was invariably less than 10 min with doses ranging from tracer quantities to several mg protein. The Fe and protein moieties of ferritin were removed simultaneously, but clearance of the protein was slower when Fe was removed before injection. The clearances of relatively crude hepatic or splenic ferritin preparations were also slower, suggesting that isoferritins may differ substantially in their rate of clearance.