ABSTRACT
Iron Body iron stores An average adult human absorbs and excretes (in iron balance) ~1 mg of iron each day. Even slight disturbances in this balance may lead to general or local iron overload or iron deficiency. Iron is essential for all cells for heme synthesis and obtained from extracellular transferrin. Mitochondrial and extramitochondrial cytochromes, oxygen-storage proteins, and hemoglobin and myoglobin are needed in heme iron. The liver is adapted to store and release iron when needed. Normally, all cells regulate the suitable level of catalytically active iron pool during iron uptake, synthesis of iron-containing proteins, and iron release. Excess iron can interact with oxygen to form very toxic superoxide and hydroxyl radicals. Several points are important to cardiovascular pharmacology in the case of iron overload: damage of endothelium as a base for development of atherosclerosis and tissue ischemia, existence in the iron pool of a weakly bound low-molecularweight iron complex, and the possibility of the iron chelating drugs (DFO) interacting with this chelatable iron.
