Researchers at the University of Warwick and the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur have discovered that the mechanism that we rely on to transport iron safely through our blood stream can, in certain circumstances, collapse into a state which grows long worm-like "fibrils" banded by lines of iron rust.
This process could provide the first insight into how iron gets deposited in the brain to cause some forms of Parkinson's & Alzheimer's and Huntington's diseases.
Human blood relies on a protein called transferrin to safely transport iron through the bloodstream to points were it can be usefully and safely used in the body. In most other circumstances exposed iron contains many dangers for human cells. When deposited in such a state in the brain it can play a role in neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's, Huntington's and Alzheimer's
Transferrin takes up iron out of bloodstream and transports it by a method that combines it with carbonate to bind to two sites on the surface of the transferrin protein. It then curls around the iron and seals it in, almost like a Venus flytrap plant, to prevent it from interacting with anything else until it reaches where it is needed and can safely be used.