Abnormal iron accumulation in the brain of neonatal hypotransferrinemic mice

Transferrin is a plasma protein involved in iron delivery to tissues. To study iron transport into the brain under a transferrin deficiency, iron concentration and 59Fe uptake in the brain were measured in neonatal hypotransferrinemic (HP) mice at 7 days of age. Brain iron concentration of the HP mice, in which iron concentration was relatively high in the cerebral cortex and cerebellum, was approximately three times higher than that of non-mutant mice, whereas serum iron concentration of HP mice was significantly lower than that of non-mutant mice. When 59FeCl3 was subcutaneously injected into HP and non-mutant mice, 59Fe was distributed highly in the choroid plexus in the ventricles of HP mice 24 h after injection. The 59Fe distribution in the brain was different between HP and non-mutant mice. On the other hand, the clearance of 59Fe from the blood was very high in HP mice and the hepatic 59Fe concentration of HP mice was more than ten times of that of non-mutant mice. The present findings demonstrate that iron distribution in the brain is changed by transferrin deficiency and that iron abnormally accumulates in the brain of HP mice. It is likely that the management of iron is different in the brain of HP mice.