Biochemical properties of canine serum ferritin: iron content and nonbinding to concanavalin A

• Published in: Biometals Vol. 13; no. 4; pp. 319 - 324
• Main Authors: Watanabe, K, Muranishi, N, Murata, Y, Orino, K, Okano, S, Yamamoto, S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Springer Nature B.V 01-12-2000
• Subjects: Anemia; Animals; Biochemistry; Concanavalin A; Concanavalin A - metabolism; Dogs; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay - methods; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay - standards; Ferritin; Ferritins - blood; Ferritins - chemistry; Ferritins - immunology; Heat treatment; Immunochemistry; In Vitro Techniques; Iron; Iron - analysis; Iron - blood; Liver - chemistry; Myocardium - chemistry; Protein Binding; Protein Subunits; Proteins; Reference Standards; Serums
• ISSN: 0966-0844; 1572-8773
• DOI: 10.1023/A:1009276323707

A sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using H-subunit-rich canine heart ferritin as a standard has been developed for measuring canine serum ferritin which is H-subunit-rich. Serum ferritin concentrations in 51 normal dogs ranged from 143 to 1766 ng ml(-1), with a mean value of 479 +/- 286 (SD) ng ml(-1). Serum ferritin iron concentrations as determined by an immunoprecipitation technique ranged from 30.4 to 115.9 ng ml(-1) in 15 normal dogs with serum ferritin protein levels of 298 to 959 ng ml(-1). There was a significant linear correlation between the serum ferritin iron and protein levels (r=0.9441, P<0.001), and the mean iron/protein ratio of serum ferritin was 0.112 +/- 0.017. When canine sera were incubated with concanavalin A-Sepharose 4B, we observed the apparent binding of serum ferritin to concanavalin A. However, ferritin obtained by heat-treating the sera at pH 4.8 to remove the ferritin-binding proteins did not bind to the lectin. These results suggest that canine serum ferritin contains a considerable amount of iron but no concanavalin A-binding G subunit present in human serum ferritin.