Oxidative stress is one of the possible mechanisms of neurodegeneration. One of the elements of this mechanism are altered
iron homeostasis and changes concerning of
iron metabolism regulatory
proteins. The primary
iron storage
protein in cells is
ferritin, composed of heavy (H) and light (L) chains. In brain tissue neurons contain mainly
ferritin H-chains, whereas glial cells are rich in L-chains. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that compares structure of
ferritin and histopathological hallmarks in hippocampal tissue affected by the pathological process of
Alzheimer's disease (AD). Our data indicate a statistically significant correlation between the concentration of L chains of
ferritin, the H/L ratio and the amount of
senile plaques in the subiculum, CA1 and CA4 sectors of the hippocampus (p<0.001, p=0.025, p=0.029). A significant correlation was also found between the concentration of
L-ferritin and neuronal loss (p=0.0026). These findings indicate an important role of
ferritin light chains in neurodegeneration, that is linked to chronic
inflammation processes and the associated activation of the microglia rich of L chains.