Ferritin as an important player in neurodegeneration

Oxidative stress is considered one of the pathways leading to neuronal death in neurodegenerative disease. Many published studies aimed to assess the possible role of iron in this process but no consensus has been reached. On the other hand little is known about the role played by the main iron storage protein - ferritin. In this review we discuss the data obtained using several methods - Mössbauer spectroscopy, electron microscopy and ELISA - from human brain tissue both in controls and in four neurodegenerative disorders - Parkinson's (PD) and Alzheimer's disease, progressive supranuclear palsy and neuroferritinopathy. Iron may only cause oxidative stress injury when it is available as labile iron for Fenton reaction. This may be related to the decreased ability of ferritin to retain iron within the iron core of ferritin. This happens in PD and in neuroferritinopathy. In PD there is a decrease in the concentration of L ferritin, while in neuroferritinopathy there is a genetically induced mutation in L ferritin causing its loss of function. We discuss the importance of the ratio H/L ferritin and its changes in neurodegeneration.