646 



ADVENTURES IN RADIOISOTOPE RESEARCH 



ferritin molecule as a mixture of ferrous and ferric compounds. The 

 equilibrium between the ferric-disulphide— ferritin and the ferrosul- 

 phydryl— ferritin is displaced in favour of the ferro-form (see also 

 BiELiG and Baeyer^^;)) ^y venesection, which leads to anoxia, or by 

 reducing agents such as glutathione, and the ferrous iron is conveyed 

 into the plasma for formation of iron transferrin. 



a 

 £ 

 _a 



Q. 



20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 

 min 







e 



a 



Q. 



Fig. 6. Rate of escape of iron combined in ^^ globulin from the 



plasma of normal and infected rabbits. 



Gesund = healthy. Infiziert = infected. 



It is highly probable that the lack of iron in the plasma of infectious 

 diseases is partly attributable to the disturbed transference of the ferritin 

 iron into the plasma. 



In infectious diseases, of course, not only is there inhibition of the 

 entry of iron into the plasma but there is also acceleration of the escape 

 of iron from the plasma into the organs in which a more rapid metabolism 

 now occurs. This is illustrated in Fig. 6, which presents experimental 

 results obtained in our laboratory by Ehrenstein^-o\ who has compared 

 the rate of escape of iron globulin, labeUed with iron, from the plasma 

 of normal rabbits and rabbits infected with Pasteurella multicida. As has 

 already been mentioned, an accelerated uptake of iron by the cells of 

 the storage organs leads to an accelerated escape of iron ions from the 

 plasma. Since, however, the level of iron in the infected plasma amounted 

 only to about half of the normal, the amount of iron escaping from that 

 plasma in unit time was not very much larger than that released from 

 the plasma of normal animals. 



