• BMB Reports
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.147-152
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• 2012

Methylglyoxal (MG) was identified as an intermediate in non-enzymatic glycation and increased levels were reported in patients with diabetes. In this study, we evaluated the effects of MG on the modification of ferritin. When ferritin was incubated with MG, covalent crosslinking of the protein increased in a time- and MG dose-dependent manner. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavengers, $N-acetyl-_L-cysteine$ and thiourea suppressed the MG-mediated ferritin modification. The formation of dityrosine was observed in MG-mediated ferritin aggregates and ROS scavengers inhibited the formation of dityrosine. During the reaction between ferritin and MG, the generation of ROS was increased as a function of incubation time. These results suggest that ROS may play a role in the modification of ferritin by MG. The reaction between ferritin and MG led to the release of iron ions from the protein. Ferritin exposure to MG resulted in a loss of arginine, histidine and lysine residues. It was assumed that oxidative damage to ferritin caused by MG may induce an increase in the iron content in cells, which is deleterious to cells. This mechanism, in part, may provide an explanation or the deterioration of organs under diabetic conditions.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.187-191
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• 2006

Serum ferritin levels are increased in subjects at-risk for or with acute lung injury (ALI), and there are observations to suggest that increases in serum ferritin levels may help predict the development of ALI in at-risk individuals. To deepen our understanding of increases of serum ferritin and their relationship to the development of ALI, we measured serum ferritin levels before and after intestinal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in rats, and found that serum ferritin levels increased significantly following I/R. Increases in serum and lavage ferritin levels paralleled increases in lung inflammation (lavage leukocyte numbers and tissue myeloperoxidase activities) and lung leak (lavage protein levels). In contrast, pre-treatment of rats with mepacrine (60 mg/kg, i.p.), a phospholipase $A_2$ inhibitor, attenuated not only I/R-induced serum and lavage ferritin increases, but also the development of ALI. These findings indicate that, besides of human subjects with ALI, serum ferritin levels increase early on also in an animal model of ALI. Therefore, serum and lavage ferritin can be a candidate for early biomarker of ALI.

• BMB Reports
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.219-224
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• 2010

Lipid peroxidation is known to be an important factor in the pathologies of many diseases associated with oxidative stress. We assessed the lipid peroxidation induced by the reaction of ferritin with $H_2O_2$. When linoleic acid micelles or phosphatidyl choline liposomes were incubated with ferritin and $H_2O_2$, lipid peroxidation increased in the presence of ferritin and $H_2O_2$ in a concentration-dependent manner. The hydroxyl radical scavengers, azide and thiourea, prevented lipid peroxidation induced by the ferritin/$H_2O_2$ system. The iron specific chelator desferoxamine also prevented ferritin/$H_2O_2$ systemmediated lipid peroxidation. These results demonstrate the possible role of iron in ferritin/$H_2O_2$ system-mediated lipid peroxidation. Carnosine is involved in many cellular defense processes, including free radical detoxification. In this study, carnosine, homocarnosine, and anserine were shown to significantly prevent ferritin/$H_2O_2$ system-mediated lipid peroxidation and also inhibited the free radical-generation activity of ferritin. These results indicated that carnosine and related compounds may prevent ferritin/$H_2O_2$ system-mediated lipid peroxidation via free radical scavenging.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.81-88
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• 2016

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Serum ferritin levels are significantly increased after menopause and greatly affect women's health. The aim of this study was to investigate the dietary and non-dietary factors associated with high ferritin levels in postmenopausal women. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Among adult women in 2010-2012, qualified postmenopausal women (n = 3880) were separated into quartiles of serum ferritin. The variable differences among the quartiles of ferritin were determined using either procsurvey chi-square test (${\chi}^2$-test) among categorical variables, or GLM (Generalized Linear Model) among continuous variables. The odds ratio for high ferritin in relation to dietary factors was also determined using procsurvery logistic analysis. RESULTS: Age, obesity, drinking habit, and blood glucose levels were found to be significant indicators of high serum ferritin level after adjusting for all confounding factors. Among the food groups, grain, milk, vegetable, and seaweed intakes were significantly associated with high ferritin levels, but after adjusting for all confounding factors, only grains and vegetables remained significant factors. Among the nutrient groups, calcium, vitamin A, and vitamin C intake were significant factors, but after adjustment, none of the nutrient groups analyzed were associated with a high risk of ferritin. CONCLUSION: Age, obesity, drinking habit, and glucose levels, as well as inadequate intakes of grains and vegetables, were found to be significantly associated with high serum ferritin levels in postmenopausal Korean women.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.542-548
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• 2004

This study consisted of designing a sensitive assay to measure the rate of L-ascorbic acid (AsA)-prompted release of ferritin iron, the use of ferrozine as a chelating agent to trap releases Fe(II). The initial rate of iron release was measured in the appearance of Fe(ferrozine)$_3$$^{2+}$ at 562 nm. The release of iron from ferritin by AsA was dependent on time and AsA conditions under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Effect of oxygen on the release of iron from ferritin was also confirmed. It was suggested that the release of iron from ferritin was participate not only AsA but also $O_2$$^{[-10]}$ . In this study, it was found that iron can be released from ferritin and chelate as Fe(ferrozine)$_3$$^{2+}$ and the release was more than 50% in the presence of AsA without $O_2$$^{[-10]}$ . Based on the findings, the following can be assumed (1) AsA is diffused into ferritin (2) ferric ion is reduced to ferrous ion (3) is diffused from ferritin.tin.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.48 no.11
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• pp.1239-1243
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• 2005

Purpose : Iron accumulation interferes with hepatic insulin extraction and affects insulin synthesis and secretion. The purpose of this study is to investigate the correlation between serum ferritin and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Methods : We compared the serum ferritin level among 18 patients in an impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) group, 36 in a type 1 diabetes group, eight in a type 2 diabetes group and 29 in a healthy control group. The correlation between serum ferritin levels and sex, body mass indices(BMI), blood pressure(BP), serum fasting sugar level and serum fasting insulin level were also analyzed. Results : The mean log ferritin were $1.33{\pm}0.32$(healthy control group), $1.63{\pm}0.19$(IGT group) and $1.90{\pm}0.30$(type 2 diabetes group). In the IGT group, log ferritin was higher than in the healthy control group(P=0.001). The log ferritin of the type 2 diabetes group was higher than that of the healthy control group(P=0.001). Comparing log ferritin to other factors, log ferritin had a significant positive correlation with body mass indices(P<0.001), systolic blood pressure(P=0.001), and fasting glucose(P=0.001), fasting insulin(P=0.002). Conclusion : Compared to the normal healthy group, serum ferritin concentrations were significantly higher in the IGT group and the type 2 diabetes group. The elevation of serum ferritin concentration may be a risk factor of type 2 diabetes mellitus.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.181-187
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• 2009

Intestinal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) is one of common causes of acute lung injury (ALI). Early and accurate diagnosis of patients who are like to develop serious acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) would give a therapeutic advantage. Ferritin and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) are increased by oxidative stress and are potential candidates as a predictive biomarker of ARDS. However, the mechanisms responsible for the increases of ferritin and HO-1, and their relationship to ALI, are unclear. In order to elucidate the interactions between ferritin and HO-1, we studied the changes in ferritin and HO-1 levels in serum and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid after intestinal I/R injury in rats. Leukocyte number and protein contents in BAL fluid were elevated following I/R, and the increases were attenuated by mepacrine pretreatment. Both serum ferritin and HO-1 concentrations were progressively elevated throughout the 3 h observation period. Mepacrine pretreatment attenuated the increase of serum and BAL fluid ferritin concentrations, but did not suppress the increase of serum HO-1. Moreover, BAL fluid HO-1 levels did not change after I/R or after mepacrine pretreated I/R compared with sham rats. Unlike ferritin, HO-1 levels are not exactly matched with the ALI. Therefore, there might be a different mechanism between the changes of ferritin and HO-1 in intestinal I/R-induced ALI model.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.119-125
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• 2011

In the synthesis of nanoparticles, much attention has been paid to regulating the particle size. There has been a possible evident that using the central cavity (core) of the protein ferritin has a greatly significant influence on it because the core can generate the nanometer-sized mineral particles of variable metal ions. In this report, recombinant human L-ferritins produced from Saccharomyces cerevisiae were purified and their molecular properties were characterized. The cDNA for human ferritin L chain was also expressed in another host such as Escherichia coli, and the properties of recombinant L-ferritins were compared. From isoelectric focusing experiment, the L-ferritin from the recombinant yeast showed no indication of N-glycosylation. Some post-translational modifications other than N-glycosylation were speculated in the L-ferritins from yeast. A difference was made in the L-ferritins in their iron uptake rates and the initial rate of the L-ferritin from yeast was slightly increased. The reconstitution yield and size distribution of the core minerals were analyzed in the L-ferritins by transmission electron microscopy. The L-ferritin from yeast with higher reconstitution yield (54.5%) showed slightly larger sizes (mean 6.92 nm) with narrower size distribution than the L-ferritin from E. coli. It is, in conclusion, speculated that L-ferritin from yeast is relatively superior to the other, in view of the size of nanoparticle and its relative homogeneity.

• Journal of Photoscience
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.427-429
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• 2002

We studied iron release from ferritin by irradiating the visible light, and then followed ferritin-mediated lipid peroxidation in the rod outer segment (ROS) fraction of the porcine retina. In the presence of several phosphorus compounds such as ADP and ATP, iron release from ferritin at pH 7.0 could be induced by irradiation of the visible light to the reaction mixtures. Furthermore, iron release from ferritin in the presence of ADP depended on the incubation time and the visible light irradiation. Moreover, we investigated lipid peroxidation level in the ROS fraction by two independent assay systems including the thiobarbituric acid (TBA) and ferrous oxidation/xylenol orange (FOX) methods. The visible light induced ferritin-mediated lipid peroxidation in the ROS fraction in time- and irradiance-dependent manners. In the dark condition, iron release and lipid peroxidation were not observed. Iron release from ferritin by irradiating the visible light may play an important role in the etiology of phototoxic injuries in vivo.

• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.147-151
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• 2001

Explants of Lactuce sativa cultivar, chungchima, were co-cultivated with Agrobacterium tumefaciences LBA4404, EHA101 strains containing nptll gene and ferritin gene encoding iron storage protein from soybean for transformation. Through initial selection of regenerated explants by culturing on a kanamycin and carbenicillin containing MS medium, multiple shoots were obtained after 2 months of culture. For a complementary step of selection, putative transgenic shoots were transferred to 1/2 MS basal medium supplemented with 100 mg/L kanamycin and 500 mg/L carbenicillin. The selected shoots were tested with PCR analysis using nptll, ferritin specific primers whether ferritin gene was introduced to genome of the plants. These results confirmed that produced the specific PCR bands in the putative transgenic lines. Additionally the Northern blot showed that transcripts of ferritin gene were detected in mature leaf of the transgenic lines. These results suggest that ferritin gene be successfully integrated and transcribed in the putative transgenic lettuce plants.