HFE gene in primary and secondary hepatic iron overload

Figure 2 The pathway of iron absorption in the mature duodenal enterocyte. Dietary ferric iron is reduced to the ferrous state by ferric reductase(s), for example duodenal cytochrome b (Dcytb), which is expressed on the luminal surface of the enterocytes. Ferrous iron is taken up via DMT1 into the labile iron pool. Iron may be stored within the cell as ferritin or transferred across the basolateral membrane to the plasma by ferroportin. The exported iron is oxidised to the ferric state by hephaestin; ferric iron is then avidly bound by circulating transferrin[39].