IRON UPTAKE IN THE BRAIN OF THE MYELIN-DEFICIENT RAT

The role of oligodendrocyte-derived transferrin in the transport and r egional accumulation of iron has been studied in myelin-deficient (md) rats, which lack functional oligodendrocytes and have an almost compl ete depletion of transferrin in the brain, although they have normal p eripheral levels of transferrin. The regional uptake of Fe-59 into the brain has been studied autoradiographically in md and littermate cont rol rats. Differences in uptake were found in only three of the 28 reg ions studied. These results suggest that the uptake and distribution o f iron is not impaired in the md rat despite a markedly reduced level of brain transferrin. The choroid plexus contains high levels of trans ferrin mRNA and it is therefore likely that transferrin synthesized by choroid plexus epithelial cells can mediate the transport of iron wit hin the brain.