APOFERRITIN

Uses

Apoferritin from equine spleen has been used:

• to determine its partition coefficients in phase systems
• in NaCl for iron loading of cultured cells
• in in situ liquid scanning transmission electron microscope for imaging the interface of biology and nanotechnology

Uses

Apoferritin is a gel filtration molecular weight marker that can be used in gel filtration chromatography and protein chromatography. Apoferritin has the ability to demetallate hemin and to metallate protoporphyrin IX.

Biochem/physiol Actions

This protein shell of ferritin lacking iron is widely used for the calibration of gel filtration columns and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. It is very abundant in beta-cells of the pancreas where it acts as an anti-oxidant. When added to cultured endothelial cells apoferritin is taken up in a dose-responsive manner and appears to protect the cells from oxidant-mediated cytolysis.