What is the hormone ferritin?
Ferritin is a blood protein that contains iron. A ferritin test helps your doctor understand how much iron your body stores. If a ferritin test reveals that your blood ferritin level is lower than normal, it indicates your body’s iron stores are low and you have iron deficiency.
What happens if ferritin is low?
Low levels of ferritin lead to iron-deficiency anemia. This means you have too few red blood cells. Iron deficiency can come from a poor diet or blood loss. Or your body may have trouble absorbing iron from food.
What are symptoms of high ferritin levels?
Symptoms of excess ferritin include:
- stomach pain.
- heart palpitations or chest pains.
- unexplained weakness.
- joint pain.
- unexplained fatigue.
What is ferritin responsible for?
Ferritin, an iron storage protein, is the primary iron storage mechanism and is critical to iron homeostasis. Ferritin makes iron available for critical cellular processes while protecting lipids, DNA, and proteins from the potentially toxic effects of iron.
How ferritin is formed?
Ferritin is a globular protein complex consisting of 24 protein subunits forming a hollow nanocage with multiple metal–protein interactions. Ferritin that is not combined with iron is called apoferritin.
How does ferritin release iron?
Ferritin is the protein within the body that stores iron and releases it through channels in a controlled fashion. The unique structure of ferritin forms a spherical shell in which the iron is “stored” as Fe(III) in a crystalline mineral.
Is iron deficiency serious?
Iron-deficiency anemia can range from mild to severe. People with mild or moderate iron-deficiency anemia may not have any signs or symptoms. Symptoms generally worsen as anemia becomes more severe. If left untreated, iron deficiency can cause complications and may be life-threatening.
How is ferritin deficiency treated?
Patients with repeatedly low ferritin will benefit from intermittent oral substitution to preserve iron stores and from long term follow-up, with the basic blood tests repeated every 6 or 12 months to monitor iron stores.
Which cells contain ferritin?
Ferritin is found in the cytoplasm, nucleus, and mitochondria of cells (summarized in Table 1). In vertebrates, cytoplasmic ferritin is expressed in almost all tissues. This ubiquitous protein consists of 24 subunits of heavy (H) and light (L) chains in various ratios and can sequester 4,500 iron atoms (125).