Iron biominerals in medicine and the environment

Study on the modulating effect of polysaccharide upon the mineralization of iron hydroxide

“…The minerals formed from Fe(OH) 3 gel after aging for 20 days were shown by the ED data to be FeOOH, morphologically similar to the core of ferritin and their structure was more likely to lie between ferrihydrite and akageneite (ȕ-FeOOH) (Emma et al, 1995), the size was between 40-60 nm. After aging for 150 days, Fe(OH) 3 gel disappeared and replaced by iron oxyhydroxides that are uniform in size and ordered in shape, which is consistent with the result of Webb et al (1999) who made morphological observation of ferritin by TEM (Webb et al, 1999;Chua-anusorn and Webb, 2000;Liu Chuanlin et al, 2000). The ED data showed they are ȕ-FeOOH with the size lying between 10-20 nm (Fig.…”

Mössbauer spectroscopy of the iron cores in human liver ferritin, ferritin in normal human spleen and ferritin in spleen from patient with primary myelofibrosis: preliminary results of comparative analysis

“…The presence of iron in iron storage proteins permits to apply Mössbauer spectroscopy for analysis of the iron content and state in these proteins and tissues containing ferritin (see, for instance, St. Pierre et al 1996, 2000Webb et al 1992Webb et al , 1996Webb et al , 1999Papaefthymiou 2010). Sensitivity of Mössbauer spectroscopy to the magnetic state of iron containing nanoparticles appeared to be useful for evaluation of the iron core size in ferritin (Dickson 1999;Papaefthymiou 2009).…”

Periodic Iron Nanomineralization in Human Serum Transferrin Fibrils

“…Iron biomineralization occurs in natural biological processes. [1,2] For example, iron is stored in ferritin as a form of ferrihydrite, and magnetotactic bacteria use magnetite particles as navigational aids. On the other hand, controlled mineralization in biological systems can be deleterious and is thought to be involved in the pathogenesis of various neurodegenerative diseases.…”