Complexation of 1,2,4-benzenetriol with inorganic and ferritin-released iron in vitro

The reactive metabolite(s) responsible for the expression of benzene toxici ty is not clearly known despite extensive information on the metabolism and hematotoxicity of benzene. It is now widely believed that hematotoxicity o f benzene is due to the concerted action of several metabolites which arise from multiple pathways of benzene. In our earlier study, we proposed iron polyphenol chelates as possible toxic metabolites of benzene due to their p rooxidant activity. In continuation, we demonstrate the formation of an iro n and 1,2,4-benzenetriol (BT) complex, when added together in an acetate bu ffer, 0.1 M, pH 5.6, by sephadex G-10 column chromatography, It was also ob served that iron released from ferritin in the presence of BT formed a comp lex with BT. (C) 1999 Academic Press.