Magnetic properties of human liver and brain ferritin

Abstract

Human brain (globus pallidus) and liver tissues were investigated by means of electron microscopy (EM), Mössbauer spectroscopy (MS) and SQUID magnetometry techniques. Based on MS measurements, the iron present was identified to be in the ferritin-like form (61–88%) and in the form of a low-spin iron species (the balance). Its overall concentration was estimated as 1.5(3) mg in the brain and 2.4(5) mg in the liver, per gram of lyophilized tissue. The average core diameter was determined by EM measurements to be equal to 7.5(1.3) nm for the liver and 3.3(5) nm for the brain. Magnetization measurements carried out between 5 and 300 K yielded an estimation of an average blocking temperature, KT _BL, as equal to 6.7 K and 8.5 K for the liver and the brain, respectively. From the dependence of KT _BL on the external magnetic field it was concluded that the ferritin-like cores in the studied samples can be regarded as non-interacting particles. Finally, the uniaxial magnetic anisotropy constant was determined to be 6×10³ J/m³ for the liver and 4×10⁴ J/m³ for the brain.