A morphological study of ferritin synthesis in macrophages with ingested ferric hydroxide-potassium polyvinyl sulfate complexes.

A ferric hydroxide-polyvinyl sulfate colloidal solution (Fe-PVS), prepared by mixing potassium polyvinyl sulfate (PVSK) and ferric hydroxide colloidal solution was used to study ferritin synthesis in rat peritoneal macrophages. The colloidal particles had spherical electron opaque ferric hydroxide cores with diameters of about 250 nm surrounded by radially arranged fibrous PVS molecules. They also had strong negative electric charges. Fe-PVS particles injected into the peritoneal cavity were taken up by the macrophages then disintegrated rapidly. In the phagolysosomes the electron opaque ferric hydroxide cores of Fe-PVS were denuded of their PVS frames then decomposed into small 5-6 nm granules 24 to 48 h after injection. These small granules were released from the lysosomes into the hyaloplasm and the myelin figures were found in the lysosomal vacuoles. No reaccumulation of granules in lysosomes was found even 3 months later. The intracellular distribution of ferritin in macrophages demonstrated by the immunocytochemical method showed a pattern similar to that of the small granules formed by the disintegration of Fe-PVS. This means that in rat peritoneal macrophages that contain ingested Fe-PVS particles ferritin first is synthesized in phagolysosomes by the ferric hydroxide cores that conjugate with apoferritin or protein subunits then they are dispersed into the cytoplasm. Two possible pathways for the biosynthesis of ferritin are discussed.