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Red Cell Membrane Transport in Health and Disease pp 435–450Cite as

Trace Metal Transport

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Abstract

The term “trace metals” is used here to include both those transition metals, which are essential for cell function and those, which do not have a known biological role but which produce toxic effects by interacting with biological systems. The metals discussed are zinc, copper, cobalt, nickel, chromium, manganese, iron and cadmium. A common property of these metals is the ability to form coordination compounds with amino acids with very high affinity. Conventionally, the affinity of the metal for the amino acid ligand is expressed as a log stability constant (the association constant for the forward reaction). In many cases the metal can form stable complexes with multiple ligands; for example zinc can associate with one histidine to form a mono complex which can then associate with a second histidine to form a bis complex. Mixed complexes such as Zn(cys-his) can also exist in biological systems. The distribution of the metal between the various forms is an equilibrium and will vary with the relative concentrations of metal and ligand. The stability constants for these interactions vary over a wide range. Values for the log stability constant for the formation of Ni(cys)2 in vitro are approx. 20, compared with that for Mn(his)2 of 5.8. This behaviour affects the availability of trace metals for uptake into cells and tissues from plasma. For example, approx. 98% of plasma zinc is incorporated in α2-macroglobulin (non-labile) or complexed to serum albumin (labile). Virtually all the remaining zinc is complexed to amino acids, mainly histidine and cysteine (Giroux and Henkin 1972).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences, University of Southampton, Bassett Crescent East, Southampton, SO16 7PX, UK

    Niall M. Horn, Alan L. Thomas & Fiona Oakley

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  1. Niall M. Horn
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  2. Alan L. Thomas
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  3. Fiona Oakley
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Naturwissenschaftlich-Technische Fakultät III, Arbeitsgruppe Biophysik, Universität des Saarlandes, P.O.Box 151150, 66041, Saarbrücken, Germany

    Ingolf Bernhardt

  2. Laboratory of Physiology, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PT, UK

    J. Clive Ellory

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© 2003 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Horn, N.M., Thomas, A.L., Oakley, F. (2003). Trace Metal Transport. In: Bernhardt, I., Ellory, J.C. (eds) Red Cell Membrane Transport in Health and Disease. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-05181-8_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-05181-8_17

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-07920-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-05181-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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