IRON STORAGE (Where and how is iron stored?)

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Most important storage organs

• 
  Liver
  
• 
  Spleen
  
• 
  Bone marrow
  
  (Iron is stored as ferritin /haemosiderin)

Reticuloendothelial cells (= macrophages) receive iron from:

• catabolism of RBC
• parenteral iron

Liver parenchymal cells (= hepatocytes) receive iron from:

• uptake of serum iron (on transferrin; receptor mediated endocytosis)
• uptake of free haemoglobin (by haemolysis) as either Hb-haptoglobin complex or haem-haemopexin complex

See more on Ferritin in Appendix.

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