Abstract
The liver microsomal lipid peroxidation consists of a NADPH-dependent, enzymic reaction and an ascorbate-dependent, non-enzymic reaction, but each needs an extremely small quantity of iron. The authors investigated the influence of ferritin, that plays a role in iron storage within the body, on the lipid peroxidation.
Holoferritin promoted areaction approximately 1.5 times for NADPH-dependent reaction and approximately 1.8 times for ascorbate-dependent reaction. Likewise, the promotion effect of the catalyzation was exerted by heat denatured holoferritin. On the other hand, the addition of 1.5 mg of apoferritin to the reaction mixture inhibited the NADPH-dependent reaction by approximately 80% and the ascorbate-dependent reaction by approximately 60%. However, the inhibition by apoferritin disappeared when ferric ions were added to the reaction mixture. Heat denatured apoferritin inhibited the lipid peroxidation as did native apoferritin. It is suggested that these results are due to the fact that ferric ion binds with apoferritin.
