Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 19, 2026

Quantitating Iron Transport Across the Mouse Placenta In Vivo Using Nonradioactive Iron Isotopes
Published on: May 10, 2022
BILIARY EXCRETION OF RADIOACTIVE IRON AND TOTAL IRON AS INFLUENCED BY RED CELL DESTRUCTION
1Department of Pathology, The University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York.
Abstract:
Iron is eliminated in the bile of normal dogs at a low but quite constant rate, 0.2 mg. per day. The feeding of large amounts of iron to normal dogs does not cause an increased iron excretion in the bile nor does the injection of considerable quantities of colloidal iron by vein. When red cell destruction is brought about by acetyl-phenylhydrazine the elimination of biliary iron may increase tenfold and parallels the increased output of bile pigment. When red cells containing radioactive iron are destroyed by acetyl-phenylhydrazine there is a significant increase in radioactive iron excreted in the bile which parallels the bile pigment excretion-Charts A and C. The excretion of iron and bile pigment is independent of the volume of bile. When hemoglobin is destroyed the pigment radicle is totally excreted as bile pigment but only 3 per cent of the released iron is eliminated in the bile with conservation of the remainder. The importance of the liver and spleen as storehouses of iron is again confirmed. The body conserves iron even when it is present in marked excess.
Related Concept Videos
Lifecycle of Erythrocytes
The resident phagocytic macrophages deal with these damaged cells by engulfing them and separating their globin and heme groups.
Hepatic Drug Excretion: Influencing Factors
Hepatic Drug Excretion: Enterohepatic Cycling
Post-release drugs and metabolites can be reabsorbed into the body from the intestine. For conjugated metabolites like glucuronides, reabsorption requires enzymatic hydrolysis by intestinal microflora. This...
Imaging Studies II: Positron Emission Tomography and Scintigraphy
Fundamental Principles of PET
The Early Endosome: Endocytosis of Transferrin
Effect of Hepatic Disease on Pharmacokinetics: Drug Dosing and Hepatic Blood Flow

