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Updated: Mar 17, 2026

Quantitating Iron Transport Across the Mouse Placenta In Vivo Using Nonradioactive Iron Isotopes
Published on: May 10, 2022
Iron mobilization from ultraviolet-irradiated, iron-saturated, transferrin
M Aubailly1, S Salmon1, P Morlière1
1a Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Laboratoire de Physico-Chimie de l'Adaptation Biologique (INSERM U 312), Paris , France.
Abstract:
Transferrin is the major iron transport protein of mammalian plasma. The ultraviolet-B irradiation of 1.4 mg/ml iron saturated transferrin solutions (~32 μM Fe(3+)) induces a Fe(3+) loss accompanied by Fe(2+) formation. The initial quantum yield of Fe(3+) loss is wavelength dependent (φ(313 nm)~1.3×10(-3)) and oxygen independent suggesting an intramolecular electron transfer from one of the Fe(3+) ligands. A photolysis of tryptophan residues parallels this photoreduction.
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