Intravenous iron, used for the treatment of anemia in chronic renal failure andother diseases, represents a possible source of free iron in tissue cells, particularly in the liver. In this study we examined the effect of different sources of intravenous iron (IVI) on the labile iron pool (LIP) which represents the nonferritin-bound, redox-active iron that is implicated in oxidative stress and cell injury. Furthermore, we examined the role of the LIP for the synthesis of ferritin. We used HepG2 cells as a well known model for hepatoma cells and monitored the LIP with the metal-sensitive fluor-escent probe, calcein-AM, the fluorescence of which is quenched on binding to iron. .
