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. 1989 Dec 15;264(3):925–928. doi: 10.1042/bj2640925

Translational regulation of ferritin synthesis in rat liver. Effects of chronic dietary iron overload.

G Cairo 1, L Tacchini 1, L Schiaffonati 1, E Rappocciolo 1, E Ventura 1, A Pietrangelo 1
PMCID: PMC1133674  PMID: 2619720

Abstract

In rats with chronic dietary iron overload, a higher amount of liver ferritin L-subunit mRNA was found mainly engaged on polysomes, whereas in control rats ferritin L-subunit mRNA molecules were largely stored in ribonucleoprotein particles. On the other hand, ferritin H-subunit mRNA was unchanged by chronic iron load and remained in the inactive cytoplasmic pool. In agreement with previous reports, in rats acutely treated with parenteral iron, only the ferritin L-subunit mRNA increased in amount, whereas both ferritin subunit mRNAs shifted to polysomes. This may indicate that, whereas in acute iron overload the hepatocyte operates a translation shift of both ferritin mRNAs to confront rapidly the abrupt entry of iron into the cell, during chronic iron overload it responds to the slow iron influx by translating a greater amount of L-subunit mRNA to synthesize isoferritins more suitable for long-term iron storage.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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