Figure 1.

Iron import, regulation and export. Organic and inorganic iron enters into the intestinal duodenal cell through their respective ion channels in ferrous form. In the cytoplasm the ferrous ions gather together to form an iron pool called the cytoplasmic labile pool (cLIP). Depending upon the requirement cLIP will be utilized by different organelles and the extra ferrous iron is stored in ferritin. Ferrous iron cannot be transported and hence it should be reduced to ferric iron which can be transported into the circulation and is reached to other cells through a ferric ion exporter.