Iron translocation by free fatty acids.

Organic extracts of cigarette smoke and uncombusted tobacco contain substances capable of translocating iron from aqueous solutions into immiscible organic solvents. Such extracts will also effect the organic solvation of iron present in ferruginous forms of asbestos such as amosite and crocidolite (Qian and Eaton, Arch Biochem Biophys 1989, 275:280). These substances, previously detected by their iron-translocating properties, have now been purified and identified by mass spectroscopy as saturated fatty acids, predominantly stearic and palmitic acids. Organic extracts of tobacco smoke, as well as the pure fatty acids, also transfer ferrous iron into both isolated red cell membranes and intact human erythrocytes. The increased membrane iron may enhance cellular susceptibility to exogenous oxidants; erythrocyte membranes subject to fatty acid-mediated iron accumulation show elevated peroxidation of endogenous polyunsaturated fatty acids. These observations may help explain the phlogistic effects of tobacco use and suggest, in a broader context, that free fatty acids may act as physiologic and pathologic mediators of metal translocation.