Natural Iron Chelators as Potential Therapeutic Agents for the Treatment of Iron Overload Diseases

Iron overload disease is a group of heterogeneous disease, which is caused either due to hereditary or acquired condition. Excess of iron participate in redox reactions that catalyzes the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and increases oxidative stress, which causes cellular damage and encourage the cell injury and cell death. The electronic databases of Scopus, PubMed and Google Scholar have been intensively searched for the research as well as review articles published with the full text available and with the key words such as natural iron chelating agent, synthetic iron chelating agents, iron overload disease, oxidative stress and antioxidant which were appearing in the title, abstract or keywords. In light of the literature review presented in this artial, based on meta-analyses, we suggest that iron chelating agents were used for the management of iron overload disease. These agents were having wide spectrum of activity, they were not only used for the management of iron overload disease but also used as anticancer and antioxidant in various oxidative stress mediated diseases. Last from many years Desferoxamine (DFO) was used as standard iron chelator but currently two new synthetic iron chelators such as Deferiprone (DFP) and Deferasirox (DFS) are available clinically. These clinically available synthetic iron chelators were having serious side effects and certain limitations. Phytochemicals such as flavonoids and polyphenols compounds were having iron chelating as well as antioxidant property with no or minimal side effects. Hence, this review provides an updates on natural iron chelation therapy for the safe and efficacious management of iron overload diseases.

Methods of Synthesis of Oxides of Iron and Removing Compounds Arsenic in Water

Environmental pollution by heavy metals has been extensively researched using different materials and techniques but, this problem has not been fully resolved. High adsorption capacity of iron oxides such as hematite, magnetite, goethite and, ferrihydrite to remove arsenic are described in this review. There are many international investigations about the minerals of iron oxides and they describe the composition, properties, synthesis methods and involved variables. Active carbon, silicones and polymers had been used to obtain composites with iron oxides and they have gave better results to remove different anions and cations. The aim in this paper is to introduce studies already carried out and encourage research in this topic to take advantage of the particular characteristics of iron oxides and use them in the environmental remediation. In addition, it is important to introduce the natural iron oxides availability that have a lot of field to study. The literature search on the subject was carried out in Science Direct and high impact articles related to natural or synthetic oxides were used. Keywords: Arsenic, hematite, magnetite, goethite, iron composites. Resumen La contaminación ambiental por metales se ha estudiado mucho con diferentes materiales y técnicas, pero aún no se ha logrado resolver por completo este problema. La alta capacidad de adsorción de los óxidos de hierro como la hematita, magnetita, goetita, ferrihidrita, para la remoción de arsénico en agua son descritos en este trabajo de revisión. Existen muchas investigaciones internacionales de los óxidos de hierro en las que se expone la composición de estos minerales, las propiedades, métodos de síntesis y las variables que intervienen. El carbón activo, las siliconas y los polímeros son materiales que se han usado para formar compositos con estos óxidos que han contribuido a obtener mejores resultados en la remoción de diferentes aniones y cationes. Con este trabajo se pretende difundir estudios ya realizados e incentivar la investigación en este campo para aprovechar las características particulares de los óxidos de hierro y usarlos como remediadores ambientales. Ademas, es importante dar a conocer la existencia de óxidos de hierro naturales que dejan mucho campo por estudiar.

Synthesis and Characterization of Starch Coated Natural Magnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for the Removal of Methyl Orange Dye from Water

The Fe3O4 nanoparticles were synthesized from natural iron sand by dissolving it in HCl and precipitated by NaOH. Two solutions of iron rocks were treated, one without starch and one with starch, followed by NaOH. Both samples were characterized by X-ray Diffractometer (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR), and Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) to record the crystallinity, morphology, and coating of starch on the Fe3O4 surface. The XRD pattern shows the presence of crystalline structures between bare and coated magnetic particles. SEM shows its morphological structure. EDX shows the elemental composition Fe present up to 75% in rocks. The removal of methyl orange dye is investigated and found 75% removal efficiency at the optimum condition at pH 6 at 120 minutes.

How are oxygen budgets influenced by dissolved iron and growth of oxygenic phototrophs in an iron-rich spring system? Initial results from the Espan Spring in Fürth, Germany

At present most knowledge on the impact of iron on 18O / 16O ratios (i.e. δ18O) of dissolved oxygen (DO) under circum-neutral conditions stems from experiments carried out under controlled laboratory conditions. These showed that iron oxidation leads to an increase in δ18ODO values. Here we present the first study on effects of elevated Fe(II) concentrations on the δ18ODO in a natural, iron-rich, circum-neutral watercourse. Our results show that iron oxidation was the major factor for rising dissolved oxygen isotope compositions in the first 85 m of the system in the cold season (February) and for the first 15 m during the warm season (May). Further along the course of the stream, the δ18ODO decreased towards values known for atmospheric equilibration around +24.6 ‰ during both seasons. Possible drivers for these changes may be reduced iron oxidation, increased atmospheric exchange and DO production by oxygenic phototrophic algae mats. In the cold season, the δ18ODO values stabilized around atmospheric equilibrium, whereas in the warm season stronger influences by oxygenic photosynthesis caused values down to +21.8 ‰. In the warm season from 145 m downstream of the spring, the δ18ODO increased again until it reached atmospheric equilibrium. This trend can be explained by respiratory consumption of DO combined with a relative decrease in photosynthetic activity and increasing atmospheric influences. Our study shows that dissolved Fe(II) can exert strong effects on the δ18ODO of a natural circum-neutral spring system even under constant supply of atmospheric O2. However, in the presence of active photosynthesis, with supply of O2 to the system, direct effects of Fe oxidation on the δ18ODO value become masked. Nonetheless, critical Fe(II) concentrations may indirectly control DO budgets by enhancing photosynthesis, particularly if cyanobacteria are involved.