Ferritin: Structure, Synthesis and Function

Abstract

StructureOF all the indispensable trace elements required by higher animals iron is by far the most important on account of its presence as a structural component of hemoglobin. Although about 70 per cent of the total iron of the human body is present as hemoglobin, and about 3 per cent in the muscles as myoglobin, most of the remainder is found in ferritin, which, together with hemosiderin, is the major storage form of iron. Ferritin was first isolated and crystallized by Laufberger in 1937 from the spleen and liver of the horse.¹ Ferritin is known to occur in a . . .