Where does excess iron go? Perhaps someone has heard that, in addition to the known forms of diabetes mellitus (IDDM and NIDDM), there is also a certain variant called bronze (not to be confused with bronze disease - Addison's disease), pigmentary cirrhosis or hemochromatosis, which is caused by excessive accumulation of iron in body.
Iron, being deposited in organs and tissues, excites a tissue response to the presence of an element that is unnecessary in such quantities, increasing the rate of lipid peroxidation, which leads to damage to cell organelles, resulting in fibrosis. In addition, along the way, there is a stimulation of collagen production by cells that are responsible for the construction of connective tissue. And it doesn’t matter at all in which organs iron began to accumulate, if the process is not stopped, in the end, everyone will suffer.
However, the pathological process does not end on the liver, because iron continues to accumulate and its amount can reach 20-60 grams (at a rate of 4-5 g). But he needs to go somewhere and, naturally, he is looking for other parenchymal organs. As a result, iron settles. The toxicity of Fe lies in the fact that this metal, as an element with variable valence (Fe (II), Fe (III)), is able to easily initiate free radical reactions that damage cell organelles and the genetic material of the cell, increase collagen production and provoke the formation of tumor processes.
With congenital hemachromatosis, these accumulations will be replenished annually and in 20 years will grow into a rather impressive figure. ≈ 20 grams (sometimes up to 50 g). For reference. normally, the body contains about 4 grams of Fe, and this amount is distributed between heme-containing blood proteins (hemoglobin), muscles (myoglobin), respiratory pigments and enzymes. In stock (mainly in the liver), just in case, up to 0.5 g of Fe is stored. The amount of absorbed element correlates with the reserve content, and the more the body needs it, the more iron must come through absorption. In hemochromatosis, increased absorption leads to excessive accumulation.
What does bronze diabetes look like? Accumulating a valuable, in general, metal every day, the body acquires about 1 gram of prednisolone pills, which turns out to be superfluous for the body. Excess iron deposition develops gradually, passing through 3 stages.