Abstract
Experimental data of transferrin and transferrin-bound iron uptake byrabbit reticulocytes in the presence or absence of extracellular lead isanalyzed by means of a fractal model. A highly significant correlation offractal dimension (Df) of intracellular transferrin or transferrin-boundiron uptake with varying extracellular concentrations of lead (0 ~ 25umol/L) was observed (Transferrin: r = 0.897, p = 0.015; transferrin-boundiron: r = 0.947, p = 0.004). The Df of membrane-bound transferrin (r =-0.618, p = 0.191) or transferrin-bound iron (r = 0.144, p = 0.786) did notappear to be markedly altered by lead. Further analysis shows thatinhibitory degree of lead on intracellular iron uptake is higher than thaton intracellular transferrin uptake. These results suggest that theinhibitory effect of lead on the iron uptake may occur in intracellularprocess rather than in membrane binding step, probably inhibitingtranslocation of iron across the endosomal membrane.
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Qian, Z.M., Xiao, D.S., Wang, Q. et al. Inhibitory mechanism of lead on transferrin-bound iron uptake by rabbit reticulocytes: A fractal analysis. Mol Cell Biochem 173, 89–94 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006884619972
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006884619972