HEPCIDIN AND REGULATION OF IRON ABSORPTION AND HOMEOSTASIS
Abstract:
The micronutrient iron is crucial for life; however, maintenance of iron homoeostasis is critical since its deficiency or excess both leads to a pathological condition. Unlike like other nutrients, the iron homoeostasis is regulated at the level of absorption in the intestine and not via excretion. When the body iron store declines or when there is an increase in demand, the iron homoeostasis is maintained by the increase in absorption and vice versa. The recent biomedical advance has witnessed the hormone produced by liver, hepcidin as a prime regulator of iron homoeostasis by inhibiting iron absorption; however, the regulation of the hepcidin expression is complex and multifactorial. In this review, we explored and compared the recent advances in understanding the regulation of hepcidin expression.
Overview of iron homoeostasis
The micronutrient iron is vital for all living organism since it is required in the various metabolic process. The dietary requirement of iron for an average human is 1-2 milligram per day to compensate the minor loss of iron via bleeding, menstruation or the sloughing off of epithelial cells (Paul 2015) (figure 1). Despite its cruciality for life, iron is a double-edged sword and it is harmful in either extreme. When there is an excess iron in plasma, it binds to a low molecular weight molecule like citrate, acetate and albumin forming non-transferrin-bound iron (NTBI) which
2.Iron extremely impactful in our life. One, it carries oxygen from our lungs through the blood stream and releases it in the body where it’s needed. Is also built into the enzymes that help us detoxify poisons and convert sugars and energy. Iron is also responsible for the healthy immune system function. Without enough iron in our system, skin gets pale, people can feel confused, dizzy, cold, and extremely fatigued. It explains why some areas of the world’s oceans are
Hemochromatosis is a deadly disease in which the body believes that it never has enough iron. The body, as a result is that iron is not filtered out through the intestines, it is always entering the body. This iron runs out of places to be stored, and is spread throughout the body. These iron stores eventually end up changing the body and causing damage to major organs and joints. Hemochromatosis can lead to cancer, heart failure, and a plethora of other problems.
Iron deficiency anemia, one of the most common types of anemia, is a blood disorder where
Iron Deficiency Anemia affects millions of individuals across the world. This disease strikes many more women than men and has harmful effects on all who suffer from this deficiency that causes oxygen-carrying capacity to decrease. The causes can vary amongst different groups, but the aggravating symptoms remain constant. Much of the research on Iron Deficiency Anemia concentrates on not only the treatment of this disease, but also the prevention of it. To attain a better understanding of how to treat this problem, one must clearly know what Iron Deficiency Anemia means, what causes this disease, the effects of it, and finally how to cure it.
Iron is an important nutrient because it helps carry oxygen in the hemoglobin in red blood cells around the human body. When a healthy iron supply is reached, the body immediately stops absorbing the nutrient, and just lets it past through the digestive system. However, people with hemochromatosis absorb all the iron from the food consumed, past healthy levels. All the extra iron spreads throughout the body, and unevitably causes great damage to major organs and almost all other parts of the body. According to Survival of the Sickest, "hemochromatosis can lead to liver failure, heart failure, diabetes, arthritis, infertility, psychiatric disorders,... cancer," and other diseases if left untreated (Maulem
In the beginning of every cross country season, my coach stressed the importance that all the female runners must take one iron pill a day. I never gave in to this because he never gave us an explanation, so I saw this as merely a mental booster rather than actual improvement present in my body. After doing some research, I found out that iron is an essential nutrient used by the human body for to transport oxygen and produce energy. Iron is present in every single cell of the body and carries oxygen from the lungs to the tissue in the form of hemoglobin, which is the oxygen-transport protein in red blood cells. Lack of iron results in both fatigue and weakness, which is definitely harmful to a cross country runner. Iron deficiency affects women about 8-10 times more than men, which is why it is crucial for women runners to watch their iron levels (Sinclair, Hinton). If iron deficiency worsens, it can lead to anemia. Anemia is when you do not have enough red blood cells, and as a result, less hemoglobin. If a cross country runner has anemia, it can affect their whole season because they are exerting energy without the sufficient amount of oxygen needed to complete each run or workout.
Today it is now wide spread to about 400 million people, about 4% of the world population. It is mainly found in Africa, Asia, and the Mediterranean. It is affecting 1 in 10 African Americans in the United States. It is diagnosed through mainly drugs, such as Aspirin. It is treated through terminated drug use, transfusion, and medicine if infection follows. The disease had helped understand the cause of hemolytic anemia in people, and the cause of anemia in the first place. If the gene were suppressed, it can stop one from getting
Hemochromatosis is a genetic disease in which there is too much iron that builds up in your body, this is referred to as an iron overload. Iron is an essential nutrient found in many foods but can be toxic to our bodies if we have to much. “Normally, humans absorb about 8-10% of the iron found in foods that they eat.” People with Hemochromatosis can absorb up to four times more iron than a normal human being. Since our bodies have no natural way to get rid of the extra iron, it gets stored in your body tissue including the liver, heart, pancreas and many other areas of our body can also be infected by this iron overload.
And another moral that you may learn from hemochromatosis is moderation. There is a point where a plethora of a good nutrient may actually be harmful, such in the case of hemochromatosis. However, the fact that scientists discovered an overload of iron may be dangerous could lead to new studies of nutrient overload. A rare disease known as hypervitaminosis D is caused by the toxicity of vitamin D (The Clinical Resource for Cellular Nutrition & Trace Mineral Analysis). As a future research potential, we can explore other diseases such as hemochromatosis and hypervitaminosis
In previous studies, it has also been seen that overweight or obese individuals are at greater risk of iron deficiency than normal weight individuals. Some studies suggest that possible explanations for this poor dietary iron intake, is increased iron requirements and/or impaired iron absorption. Nutrient Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases (2015), concluded that a calorie reduced diet causes the BMI to decrease however, their data showed that ferritin increases with BMI. The American journal of pathology (2013), demonstrated a model of iron overload syndrome in which an iron enriched diet induces insulin resistance, hyperglycemia and visceral adipose tissue. These contradictions causes us to question if iron plays a role in obesity and obesity related insulin resistance. Turk J Haematol (2014), scientists wanted to assess whether dietary iron overload influenced glucose and lipid metabolism as well as insulin resistance in mice, and found that a more iron enriched diet increases serum and hepatic iron while lowering IRP binding activity.
The brain is the main asset of our body as it controls different functions, therefore it is part of the nervous system alongside the spinal cord. Our brain has four different parts (known as lobes) that are required for different types of bodily functions (found within the cerebral cortex). The different parts are called: -
At the 11th hour, on the 11th day, of the 11th month of 1918, the Great War ends. At 5 a.m. that morning, Germany, bereft of manpower and supplies, and faced with imminent invasion, signed an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car outside Compiégne, France. The First World War left nine million soldiers dead, and 21 million wounded. Each of these countries (Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary, France, and Great Britain) lost at least a million or more lives.
Transferrin is the major iron binding protein in vertebrate serum and is mainly synthesized in the liver [91, 92]. It is secreted into the blood but it shows significant expression in organs like brain and kidney. Its main role is in iron metabolism by binding and transporting iron [91]. Transferrin has a high-affinity iron binding property and can produce a hypoferremic response by a rapid depletion of serum iron. This is an important innate humoral defence mechanism since the serum iron is necessary for the growth of many pathogenic and non-pathogenic bacteria [59, 93, 94]. Some pathogenic bacteria e.g. Aeromonas salmonicida can, however, overcome the lack of iron with specific mechanisms [59, 95].
Genetic engineering is the process of being able to manually add new DNA to an organism. This is to try and add one or more new traits to an organism, which does not have these certain traits. An example of this being done is how bacteria have been genetically engineered to produce human insulin. Insulin is a hormone, which is produced by the pancreas that allows the body to use sugar from carbohydrates in food that is eaten for energy or to store glucose for future use. Basically insulin helps your body keep your blood sugar levels from becoming too high (hyperglycemia) or too low (hypoglycemia). But for people with type 1 or 2 diabetes it can be a challenge to produce insulin, as their beta cells in the pancreas are destroyed/damaged or do not respond well or are resistant to insulin. Therefore these people need to gain their insulin from an external source. For many years it was gained from the pancreas of a cow or a pig. However this was very expensive and difficult, also the insulin could cause allergic reactions. This is where genetic engineering came in. Once the structure of human insulin was found in 1955 cow and pig insulin could be chemically modified to be the same as human insulin. Genetically engineered microbes now make it. They produce human insulin in a pure form, which is less likely to cause allergic reactions.
Iron is one of the important minerals that is required for our bodies to function properly. Most of the iron in our body is found in the blood such as haemoglobin, approximately 60 -70% of the human body’s iron is found in the haemoglobin, a protein in the blood that transports oxygen. Iron is also present in muscle tissue and some enzymes. There are two types of iron in the body which are “Heme Iron” from animal products and “Non-Heme Iron” vegetables and