Iron Stores in Healthy Pregnant Women as Determined by Immunoradiometry of their Serum Ferritin Levels (dedikált példány) [antikvár]

IntroductionExcept for certain pathological conditions involving grave cell damage,the immunoradiometric assay (IRMA) for serum ferritin determination allowsprecisely to determine the volume of iron stores in the organism.Ferritin is an iron-storage protein of 450 000 mol. wt. consisting of a proteinshell and of an iron-containing core. It occurs in high concentrations in the liver,spleen and bone marrow.Addison et al. [1] were the first to demonstrate that in iron-deficient patientsthe serum ferritin level is lower than the normal limit value of 20 to 200 ng/mland is higher in the case of iron overload. The mean serum ferritin level amountsto 50 ng/ml in healthy males and 30 ng/ml in healthy females [2].The improved diagnostic approach to iron deficiency, an endemic conditioneven in developed industrial countries, and to haemosiderosis, a condition re-sponsible for grave organic lesions, necessitated the introduction of serum ferritinHaematologia 14, 1981