Uptake and distribution of transferrin and iron in perfused, iron-deficient rat liver

Uptake of transferrin and iron by the rat liver was investigated by perfusion in vitro with 125I-59Fe-labeled rat transferrin and subcellular fractionation on sucrose density gradients. Most of the 125I-transferrin was located in a low-density vesicle fraction. The 59Fe was in three peaks, of lower, the same, and higher densities than the transferrin peak. Iron deficiency resulted in a large increase in transferrin and iron uptake into all subcellular fractions. When livers were perfused with increasing concentrations of transferrin the uptake into the different peaks of transferrin and iron increased in a curvilinear fashion, which indicated that uptake occurred by saturable and nonsaturable processes, both of which increased in iron deficiency. In contrast, the uptake of 131I-labeled rat serum albumin increased linearly with concentration, and there was no difference between control and iron-deficient livers. It is concluded that iron deficiency leads to an increase in the number of high-affinity transferrin receptors and receptor-mediated endocytosis of transferrin. It also increases a nonsaturable transferrin uptake process that is probably due to adsorptive, but selective, endocytosis of transferrin.