Recent advances in intestinal iron transport
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 15, 2026

Quantitating Iron Transport Across the Mouse Placenta In Vivo Using Nonradioactive Iron Isotopes
Published on: May 10, 2022
Gregory J Anderson1, David M Frazer
1Iron Metabolism Laboratory, Queensland Institute of Medical Research, PO Royal Brisbane Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland 4029, Australia. Greg.Anderson@qimr.edu.au
Abstract:
Our understanding of intestinal iron absorption and its regulation has expanded enormously in recent years. Dietary iron crosses the enterocyte brush border membrane through the transporter DMT1 after first being reduced by the ferric reductase Dcytb. The subsequent movement of iron across the basolateral membrane and into the circulation is mediated by ferroportin1 in conjunction with the iron oxidase hephaestin. The activity of ferroportin1 is controlled by the liver-derived peptide hepcidin, and the expression of hepcidin in turn is influenced by plasma transferrin saturation via a pathway that involves HFE, TfR2, and hemojuvelin. Future studies investigating how these molecules interact will provide a comprehensive understanding of this essential physiologic process.
Related Concept Videos
Transcellular Transport of Solutes
The Early Endosome: Endocytosis of Transferrin
Glucose Absorption Into the Small Intestine
Carrier-Mediated Transport
Active transport involves two types of membrane-spanning transporters: uptake and efflux. Uptake transporters are expressed in the small...
The Significance of Membrane Transport
Transporters facilitate either an active or passive movement of solutes. They can allow a single-molecule transport down its...
Transcytosis of IgG
IgG molecules from a mother undergo transcytosis starting around 13 weeks of gestation. The amount of IgG transferred and entering the fetal blood circulation increases with...

