Abstract
This study investigates the uptake of iron and aluminium by apoferritin. In particular, we provide the first evidence that apoferritin is able to bind in vitro the physiological form of aluminium, Al(OH)4 −, to reach an Al/Fe atomic ratio of about 0.15. Mass spectrometry analysis shows that the Al content increases linearly as a function of Al concentration in solution. These findings provide a better understanding of the Al uptake in vivo, confirming that the metal content of ferritin depends on the metal bio-availability.
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Notes
Concentrations displayed in Fig. 1b, have been calculated algebraically solving the following system of chemical reactions: \( {\mathbf{Al}}^{{{\mathbf{3}} + }} + {\mathbf{H}}_{{\mathbf{2}}} {\mathbf{0}} \leftrightarrow {\mathbf{Al}}\left( {{\mathbf{OH}}} \right)^{{{\mathbf{2}} + }} + {\mathbf{H}}^{ + } ,k_{\text{d}} \;{ = }\; 10^{ - 5.. 5} , \)
\( \begin{gathered} {\mathbf{Al}}\left( {{\mathbf{OH}}} \right)^{{{\mathbf{2}} + }} +\,{\mathbf{H}}_{{\mathbf{2}}} {\mathbf{0}} \leftrightarrow {\mathbf{Al}}\left( {{\mathbf{OH}}} \right)_{{\mathbf{2}}}^{ + } + {\mathbf{H}}^{ + } ,k_{\text{d}} = 10^{ - 5. 6} \hfill \\ \hfill \\ \end{gathered} \)
\( {\mathbf{Al}}\left( {{\mathbf{OH}}} \right)_{{\mathbf{2}}}^{ + } +\,{\mathbf{H}}_{{\mathbf{2}}} {\mathbf{0}} \, \leftrightarrow {\mathbf{Al}}\left( {{\mathbf{OH}}} \right)_{{\mathbf{4}}}^{ - } + {\mathbf{H}}^{ + } , \, k_{\text{d}} = 10^{ - 1 2. 1} \)
\( \begin{gathered} {\mathbf{Al}}\left( {{\mathbf{OH}}} \right)_{{\mathbf{3}}} +\,{\mathbf{3H}}^{ + } \leftrightarrow {\mathbf{Al}}^{{{\mathbf{3}} + }} + {\mathbf{H}}_{{\mathbf{2}}} {\mathbf{0}},k_{\text{s}} = 10^{ 10. 7} \hfill \\ \hfill \\ \end{gathered} \)
k d and k s indicate the equilibrium dissociation constants and the solubility constant of the Al compounds, respectively, at room temperature.
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G. Ciasca and M. Chiarpotto have contributed equally to this work.
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Ciasca, G., Chiarpotto, M., Campi, G. et al. Reconstitution of aluminium and iron core in horse spleen apoferritin. J Nanopart Res 13, 6149–6155 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-011-0294-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-011-0294-2