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Iron

  • Chapter
Chemical Architecture of the Nervous System

Abstract

From a chemical viewpoint, iron in the brain can be divided into two groups: heme compounds and nonheme compounds. Hemoglobin is not present in the brain outside the corpuscles in the vascular bed under normal conditions, but it appears under pathological conditions as a result of hemorrhage into the brain tissue or as a result of hemolysis. This hemoglobin is liberated, taken up by glia cells, and converted within days to hemosiderin. As in other tissues, the heme groups are then split off, and further decomposition of these prosthetic groups and of the globin residue takes place. Among the brain proteins containing iron, the cytochromes are of primary importance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychochemical Laboratory, University Clinic of Psychiatry Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Ole J. Rafaelsen & Bent Kofod

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  1. Ole J. Rafaelsen
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  1. New York State Research Institute for Neurochemistry and Drug Addiction, Ward’s Island, New York, New York, USA

    Abel Lajtha

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© 1969 Plenum Press

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Rafaelsen, O.J., Kofod, B. (1969). Iron. In: Lajtha, A. (eds) Chemical Architecture of the Nervous System. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-7154-4_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-7154-4_13

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4615-7156-8

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