Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.2478/aiht-2022-73-3621
Light and heavy ferritin chain expression in the liver and kidneys of Wistar rats: aging, sex differences, and impact of gonadectomy
Mirela Pavić Vulinović
; University of Zagreb Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Zagreb, Croatia
Petra Turčić
orcid.org/0000-0002-2621-8257
; University of Zagreb Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Department of Pharmacology, Zagreb, Croatia
Vedran Micek
; Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia
Marija Ljubojević
orcid.org/0000-0001-6333-2908
; Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Ferritin is the main intracellular storage of iron. Animal studies show that female liver and kidney express more ferritin and accumulate more iron than male. However, no study so far has investigated sex and age differences in light (FtL) and heavy (FtH) ferritin chain expression. To address this, we relied on specific antibodies and immunochemical methods to analyse the expression of both ferritin chains in the liver and kidney of 3-month and 2-year-old male and female Wistar rats. To see how sex hormones may affect expression we also studied adult animals gonadectomised at the age of 10 weeks. FtL and FtH were more expressed in both organs of female rats, while gonadectomy increased the expression in males and decreased it in females, which suggests that it is stimulated by female and inhibited by male steroid hormones. Normal kidney ferritin distribution and change with aging warrant more attention in studies of (patho) physiological and toxicological processes.
Keywords
ferritin nanocage; hepatocytes; immunofluorescence; intercalated cells, iron metabolism; macula densa; nephron; steroid hormones; western blot
Hrčak ID:
274565
URI
Publication date:
30.3.2022.
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