Iron Absorption and Anemia

Answer 01

There are several factors that influence on the daily absorption of Iron in the human body. Iron absorption occurs mainly in the first part of the digestive tract (duodenum and jejunum) and depends on several factors. Some cysteine-rich peptides produced by digestion - which form complexes with Fe +2, Fe +3 in protecting it from oxidation and thus facilitating their absorption (Alleyne p.943).

Once inside, the cell reached the intestinal mucosa the iron must be transferred into the blood. However, most of the iron absorbed by the mucosal cells is not transferred to the blood but is temporarily trapped in them probably in the form of ferritin. The amount of iron that is transferred to the blood is regulated by mechanisms only partly clarified. It is proportional to the erythroid marrow and inversely proportional to the iron content in the body. In other words, if the bone has to produce more red blood cells or iron deposits are scarce or absent, the proportion of iron that enters the blood increases and vice versa.

Answer 02

Ferritin is an iron-protein found in all tissues, but particularly in the liver, spleen, in bone marrow and skeletal muscles. We find small amounts of ferritin in plasma, assessed by measurement of the so-called ferritin. This exam is very important, because the concentration of ferritin in the blood reflects the amount of body stores of iron. The primary function of ferritin is to be an important deposit of mineral in the body.

Average values:

20-120 ng / mL (20-120 micrograms / L) for women

20-200 ng / mL (20-200 micrograms / L) for men.

In the presence of an iron deficiency, serum ferritin is almost always less than 20 micrograms of liters, while in overload conditions may be demonstrated very high values, close to 5 000 micrograms of liter.

The main function of ferritin is to accumulate iron within cells, to make it, if necessary, immediately usable. In healthy individuals, normal values is slightly higher at birth, drop during childhood until puberty, when it stabilized. Lower than normal values indicate iron deficiency allow the differentiation of the diagnosis of iron deficiency anemia (a form of anemia that occurs as a result of poor availability of iron for hemoglobin formation). Anemia blood disorder characterized by the severe shortage of red blood cells or hemoglobin or both) due to other causes (such as bleeding or pregnancy) (Mabry p.897). It can sometimes be ...