Structural specificity of haemosiderin iron cores in iron-overload diseases.

Haemosiderin iron cores isolated from patients with secondary haemochromatosis have a goethite-like (alpha-FeOOH) crystal structure whereas those from patients with primary haemochromatosis are amorphous Fe (III) oxide. Haemosiderin cores isolated from normal human spleen are crystalline ferrihydrite (5Fe2O3.9H2O). The disease-specific structures are significantly different from the ferrihydrite structure of associated ferritin cores. The results are important in understanding the biological processing of iron in pathological states and in the clinical treatment of iron-overload diseases.