Comparative study of iron mobilization from haemosiderin, ferritin and iron(III) precipitates by chelators.

The heteroaromatic chelators 1,2-dimethyl-3-hydroxypyrid-4-one, maltol, mimosine and 2,4-dihydroxypyridine-N-oxide, have been shown to mobilize iron from human spleen haemosiderin, ferritin and also from iron(III) precipitates, all containing equal amounts of iron, at physiological pH. In the case of almost every chelator, the least-solubilized polynuclear iron form was ferritin, whereas haemosiderin was more soluble and the iron(III) precipitate the most soluble of all. Most of the chelators were more efficient than desferrioxamine at releasing iron from ferritin, but less efficient in the removal of iron from the other two polynuclear iron forms. It is suggested that the chelator differences in iron mobilization may be related to variations in the chelator molecular structure, the protein structure, iron forms and in the mechanism of iron release.