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Biomedical subjects

A Leibman

Publications and source records attributed to A Leibman.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1982

Molecular ferrokinetics in the rabbit.

Using urea-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis it has been possible to distinguish the molecular forms of transferrin in rabbit serum. When 59Fe-labelled diferric transferrin is injected into normal, anaemic or hypertransfused, polycythaemic rabbits, iron is removed from diferric transferrin in essentially pairwise fashion. Exchange of iron between transferrin and tissues was also studied using predominantly monoferric transferrin labelled with 59Fe or 125I, and with 125I-labelled apotransferrin. The return of iron from tissue stores to circulating transferrin occurs one atom at a time to either site of the protein and, possibly, in pairwise fashion as well. The rate of clearance of iron from diferric transferrin differs from that of monoferric transferrins, and the rates at which iron is returned to empty sites of transferrin also differ, so that serum iron is not a kinetically homogeneous pool in the rabbit.

Anemia↗
PubMed1980

Evidence for the functional heterogeneity of the two sites of transferrin in vitro.

A recently developed crossed immunoelectrophoretic method for displaying and quantitating the four possible molecular species of transferrin has been utilized to assess the relative effectiveness of each site of rabbit and human diferric transferrin in providing iron to rabbit reticulocytes. The site which appears to reside in the N-terminal half of the rabbit protein was found to be at least 5 times more effective than its counterpart. However, both sites may serve as iron donors in monoferric as well as diferric rabbit transferrins. It is also possible that iron may be removed from rabbit transferrin in pairwise as well as sequential fashion. In human diferric transferrin, the site in the C-terminal domain functions as the better iron donor for rabbit reticulocytes.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Distribution of iron between the binding sites of transferrin in serum: methods and results in normal human subjects.

When it is incompletely saturated with iron, transferrin may exist in four molecular forms: apotransferrin, monoferric (A) transferrin (with iron occupying only the A site of the protein), monoferric (B) transferrin, and diferric transferrin. By combining electrophoresis in urea-polyacrylamide gels with crossed immunoelectrophoresis using specific antihuman transferin antiserum, it is possible to display and estimate the concentration of each of these four forms in normal human serum. The distribution of iron between the binding sites of transferrin is neither random nor determined by the relative binding strengths of transferrin's two sites. Rather, the more weakly binding and acid-labile B site of the protein is predominantly occupied.

Binding Sites↗
PubMed1977

Transferrin receptor of the rabbit reticulocyte.

A Triton X-100 solubilized macromolecular complex of transferrin and a membrane constituent can be isolated by gel chromatography from rabbit reticulocytes previously incubated with 125I-labeled transferrin. The apparent molecular weight of this complex is close to that of ferritin, or about 445 000. On sodium dodecyl sulfate gel electrophoresis the complex displays two glycoprotein subunits, of molecular weights 176 000 and 95 000 in addition to transferrin. A transferrin-binding fraction with a molecular weight near 400 000, containing these subunits, can also be identified in membranes of nonincubated reticulocytes. The corresponding membrane fraction from mature erythrocytes, which have lost transferrin-binding activity, displays both protein subunits, but the 176 000 molecular weight component fails to give a PAS stain for carbohydrate. Treatment of reticulocytes with Pronase, which destroys the ability of the cells to form specific complexes with transferrin, degrades both components. We believe these results are consistent with the hypothesis that the primary transferrin receptor of the rabbit reticulocyte is a glycoprotein of molecular weight in the range 350 000-400 000, comprised of a combination of two subunits with molecular weights 176 000 and 95 000, respectively. Transferrin-binding activity appears to depend on the carbohydrate moiety of the 176 000 subunit.

Animals↗