Lactoferrin scavenges iron ions

Lactoferrin is secreted from many tissues to collect stray iron ions that can catalyze unwanted reactions, and to starve microorganisms of this important metal. One molecule of lactoferrin can load two ferric (Fe(3+)) ions together with two carbonate (CO3(2-)) anions (Haridas et al. 1995).

乳铁蛋白由多种组织分泌，旨在收集游离的铁离子，这些铁离子可催化不期望的化学反应，并使微生物缺乏这一重要金属。乳铁蛋白分子能够同时携带两个三价铁离子（Fe(3+)）和两个碳酸根离子（CO3(2-)），如Haridas等人在1995年所述。