Electron microscopy of hemosiderin; presence of ferritin and occurrence of crystalline lattices in hemosiderin deposits

Abstract

Injections of hemoglobin were given to rats in order to produce hemosiderosis, and selected hemosiderin granules in sectioned cells of proximal convoluted tubules were studied by means of electron microscopy. When examined at high resolution, many of the dense particles that were present in hemosiderin granules proved to have the structure that characterizes the iron hydroxide micelles of molecular ferritin. In some hemosiderin deposits the dense particles formed lattices similar to those present in sections of crystalline ferritin. Such ordered arrangement of dense particles was encountered inside as well as outside of the cytoplasmic organelles for which the name "siderosomes" has been proposed previously, and which may be derived from mitochondria. Study of hemosiderin granules in hepatic parenchymal and reticuloendothelial cells of human beings yielded similar results. The findings confirm the inference that ferritin is a component of hemosiderin, and they indicate that some of the so called hemosiderin granules are crystals of ferritin.