Placental iron transfer regulation in the haemophagous region of the badger placenta: ultrastructural localization of ferritin in trophoblast and endothelial cells

Abstract

The haemophagous region of the badger (Meles meles L.) placenta is involved in iron transfer, and maternal erythrocytes are the only source of iron for the fetus. This ultrastructural study provides morphological evidence of placental ferritin iron storage intervening if haem-iron uptake exceeds fetal needs. Such placental ferritin is assumed to play an active role in iron transfer regulation. In this paper we demonstrate that this regulatory process of iron transfer by storage in placental ferritin occurs on at least two levels: the cytotrophoblast and the fetal endothelium. The latter could then act as a final monitor in the transfer of iron into the fetal circulation.

Localisation of proteins of iron metabolism in the human placenta and liver

“…Ferritin was instead strongly expressed by the stroma (Figs 3E, 4A and C). Some CD31 and ferritin double staining was observed (orange in Fig 3E); the vascular endothelial cells may have some iron storage capacity (Dumartin & Canivenc, 1992;Burdo et al, 2004). The iron transporter DMT1 was found to be close to some parts of the basal STB (Fig 4D) as found previously (Georgieff et al, 2000).…”

“…The stromal location of ferritin in this study, using one polyclonal antiserum, seems very clear but is in disagreement with earlier studies stating a trophoblast location (Brown et al, 1979;Dumartin & Canivenc, 1992). Placental immunomodulatory ferritin (PLIF), a protein identical to the ferritin heavy chain for the first 118 amino acids but derived from a different gene, is expressed by placental trophoblasts (Moroz et al, 2002).…”

“…FPN is located on the basolateral membrane of STB (Donovan et al, 2000;Bradley et al, 2004). Ferritin, the iron storage protein, has been found in placental term STB (Brown et al, 1979), cytotrophoblast and fetal endothelium (Dumartin & Canivenc, 1992). The gene HFE has been identified as the site of mutation in the common form of human haemochromatosis (Feder et al, 1996).…”

Transplacental Transfer of Iron in the Water Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis): Uteroferrin and Erythrophagocytosis

“…1996), deer (Aitken et al. 1973; Aitken 1974, 1975), carnivores, mustelids (Creed and Biggers 1964; Dumartin and Canivenc 1991, 1992) and bats (Wimsatt and Gopalakrishna 1958). Iron deficiency during gestation in humans and animals results in anaemia as well as long‐term problems in the offspring, e.g.…”

Zyklopen: a Newly Discovered Multicopper Ferroxidase

“…铁通过胎盘由母体输送到胎儿至 少需要穿过合体滋养层细胞、基底膜和胎儿血管内皮 细胞等结构, 是一种逆浓度主动转运过程, 需要众多 铁转运蛋白参与 [14,15] . 目前已证实转铁蛋白(Ferritin) 定位于合体滋养层细胞和毛细血管内皮细胞 [16] , 铁蛋 白受体(transferrin receptor, TfR)定位在胎盘的微绒毛 膜上 [17] , 二价离子转运体 1(divalent metal transporter 1, DMT1)主要表达于胞浆内后期的内吞小体上 [18] , 遗传 性血色素病蛋白(hereditary hemochromatosis protein, HFE)表达在胎盘合体滋养层细胞的顶膜 [19] , 膜铁转 运蛋白(ferroportin, FPN)主要表达在胎盘合体滋养层 细胞的胎儿侧 [20] . 建立在前人有关胎盘转运铁的机 理 [16] 和 ZP 亚铁氧化酶特性 [6] 的基础上, 提出了 ZP 在 胎盘中参与转运铁工作模型(图 1).…”