Zail, S. S2018-06-282018-06-281965-03https://hdl.handle.net/10539/24675A thesis presented for the Degree of the Doctors of Medicine in the University of the Witwatersrand, JohannesburgIron is absorbed from the bowel and passes into the blood where it attaches to a specific iron-binding b1 globulin called transferrin. Attached to this protein, iron is distributed to most tissues in the body, but the bulk of the iron is transported to the bone marrow and liver. Iron transported to the liver is incorporated mainly into storage forms of iron such as ferritin and haemosiderin, whereas in the erythroid marrow iron is utilised mainly in haemoglobin synthesis.enThesis