title: Pyrophosphate as a ligand for delivery of iron to isolated rat-liver mitochondria.
abstract: Rat liver mitochondria accumulate iron mobilized from transferrin by pyrophosphate. The capacity of the mitochondria to accumulate iron is higher than the capacity of pyrophosphate to mobilize iron from transferrin: with ferric-iron-pyrophosphate as iron donor, iron uptake and heme synthesis are about 10-times that at corresponding concentrations of iron-transferrin plus pyrophosphate. Uptake of iron from ferric-iron-pyrophosphate depends on a functionary respiratory chain and involves reductive cleavage of the ferric-iron-pyrophosphate complex. Apotransferrin inhibits uptake of iron from ferric-iron-pyrophosphate by competing with the mitochondria for iron. The results focus on pyrophosphate as a possible candidate for intracellular iron transport.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001692:Biological Transport; D011756:Diphosphates / Q000378:metabolism*; D007501:Iron / Q000378:metabolism*; D007700:Kinetics; D008024:Ligands; D008297:Male; D008930:Mitochondria, Liver / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D014168:Transferrin / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D011756:Diphosphates; D008024:Ligands; D014168:Transferrin; D007501:Iron