Permeation of small molecules into the cavity of ferritin as revealed by proton nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation.

The NMR relaxation technique was used to investigate the permeation of molecules into the cavity of ferritin. Spin-lattice relaxation times in the rotating frame of various probe molecules were measured for solutions of recombinant horse L-apoferritin without iron and horse spleen apoferritin with very small amounts of ferric ions. The results show that molecules larger than the size of the ferritin channels can pass through the channels into the ferritin interior, and that the maximum size of molecules for the permeation is smaller than maltotriose.