Iron-Defined Serum-Free Medium

The importance of elucidating the mechanism(s) involved in iron metabolism is of great significance. The pathophysiological significance of oxygen free radicals and transition metal catalysis extends to any organ system and includes carcinogenesis including leukemia, coronary artery disease, inflammation, ageing, and neurodegenerative disease and stroke. An important aspect to these studies is the development of iron defined serum-free medium for in vitro iron metabolism studies. The goal of Phase I is to develop such serum-free medium free of iron contaminated components such as albumin or transferrin. The substitution of albumin with lipid microemulsions or lipid bound cyclodextrins will be evaluated. Substitutions of transferring with iron molecules as iron citrate will be explored. These studies will focus on two cell lines, Raji and IEC-6 cells, used in such iron studies and later as time permits primary rat duodenal cells.