“…This latter observation is consistent with previous reports that intracellular transport of low molecular weight inorganic iron may be far more efficient than that of transferrin-bound iron in certain tissues (Richardson and Ponka, 1997) and is commensurate with reports that transferrin binding sites are enigmatically deficient in PD-affected neural tissues exhibiting iron overload (Mash et al, 1991;Gelman, 1995;Faucheux et al, 1997). Within several hours of CSH exposure and long before mitochondrial iron sequestration becomes manifest, cultured astroglia exhibit robust increases in heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) mRNA and protein levels and enzymatic activity (Mydlarski et al, 1993;Chopra et al, 1995;Manganaro et al, 1995). The HO-1 gene has a heat shock element in its promoter region and is strongly up-regulated by oxidative stress, metal ions, sulfhydryl compounds, and hyperthermia.…”