%0 Journal Article
%T Mitochondrial ferritin in the regulation of brain iron homeostasis and neurodegenerative diseases
%A Guofen Gao
%A Yan-Zhong Chang
%J Frontiers in Pharmacology
%D 2014
%I Frontiers Media
%R 10.3389/fphar.2014.00019
%X Mitochondrial ferritin (FtMt) is a novel iron-storage protein in mitochondria. Evidences have shown that FtMt is structurally and functionally similar to the cytosolic H-chain ferritin. It protects mitochondria from iron-induced oxidative damage presumably through sequestration of potentially harmful excess free iron. It also participates in the regulation of iron distribution between cytosol and mitochondrial contents. Unlike the ubiquitously expressed H-ferritin, FtMt is mainly expressed in testis and brain, which suggests its tissue-related roles. FtMt is involved in pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases, as its increased expression has been observed in Alzheimer¡¯s disease, restless legs syndrome and Friedreich¡¯s ataxia. Studies from our laboratory showed that in Alzheimer¡¯s disease, FtMt overexpression attenuated the ¦Â-amyloid induced neurotoxicity, which on the other hand increased significantly when FtMt expression was knocked down. It is also found that, by maintaining mitochondrial iron homeostasis, FtMt could prevent 6-hydroxydopamine induced dopaminergic cell damage in Parkinson¡¯s disease. These recent findings on FtMt regarding its functions in regulation of brain iron homeostasis and its protective role in pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases are summarized and reviewed.
%K mitochondrial ferritin
%K iron
%K brain
%K neurodegenerative diseases
%K oxidative damage
%U http://www.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fphar.2014.00019/abstract