Mitochondrial ferritin attenuates cerebral ischaemia/reperfusion injury by inhibiting ferroptosis.

Ischaemic stroke is becoming the most common cerebral disease in aging populations, but the underlying molecular mechanism of the disease has not yet been fully elucidated. Increasing evidence has indicated that an excess of iron contributes to brain damage in cerebral ischaemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. Although mitochondrial ferritin (FtMt) plays a critical role in iron homeostasis, the molecular function of FtMt in I/R remains unknown. We herein report that FtMt levels are upregulated in the ischaemic brains of mice. Mice lacking FtMt experience more severe brain damage and neurological deficits, accompanied by typical molecular features of ferroptosis, including increased lipid peroxidation and disturbed glutathione (GSH) after cerebral I/R. Conversely, FtMt overexpression reverses these changes. Further investigation shows that Ftmt ablation promotes I/R-induced inflammation and hepcidin-mediated decreases in ferroportin1, thus markedly increasing total and chelatable iron. The elevated iron consequently facilitates ferroptosis in the brain of I/R. In brief, our results provide evidence that FtMt plays a critical role in protecting against cerebral I/R-induced ferroptosis and subsequent brain damage, thus providing a new potential target for the treatment/prevention of ischaemic stroke.

Nrf2 knockout dysregulates iron metabolism and increases the hemolysis through ROS in aging mice.

AIMS: Dysregulation of iron homeostasis in the body causes a variety of diseases. Iron deficiency leads to anemia, whereas iron overload aggravates cellular oxidative stress. Nuclear factor erythroid-2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) is a protein that is activated in the nucleus and turns on the production of antioxidant enzymes, protecting cell against oxidative damage. This study aimed to investigate whether Nrf2 gene knockout influences iron homeostasis in aging mice. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Iron content and iron metabolism-related proteins were assessed in different organs and blood serum of the 18 month-old Nrf2 knockout (Nrf2-/-) mice in comparison with the wild-type (WT) mice. KEY FINDINGS: Results showed that the iron contents in spleen and liver all increased, and expression levels of iron transporters were altered in Nrf2-/- mice. In particularly, we found that the expression of iron export protein ferroportin 1 (Fpn1) in liver, spleen and small intestine all decreased in Nrf2-/- mice, which might account for the deposition of iron in different organs and the increased ROS. Surprisingly, we found that the serum iron level of Nrf2-/- mice did not decrease, but increased significantly even when the iron absorption at small intestine decreased. Our further investigation revealed that the increase of serum iron was due to the release of iron from the hemolysis of erythrocytes, which caused by the increased ROS level in red blood cells of the Nrf2-/- mice. SIGNIFICANCE: These findings provide a more comprehensive understanding of the important role of Nrf2 in the regulation of systemic iron metabolism.