Home▸Medical Technology & Imaging Physics▸Iron Homeostasis: How Hepcidin Balances Iron Absorption and Storage

🩸 Iron Homeostasis: How Hepcidin Balances Iron Absorption and Storage

Explore how the liver hormone hepcidin controls the iron exporter ferroportin to balance dietary absorption, storage, and recycling, and what happens when this system fails.

Medical Technology & Imaging Physics3DModerate60 FPS

The simulation shows how circulating hepcidin levels open or close ferroportin channels on gut enterocytes and macrophages in real time, visually linking hormone concentration to the flow of iron into the bloodstream and the resulting buildup of transferrin-bound and stored iron.

🔬 What It Demonstrates

🎮 How to Use

Adjust the hepcidin level, inflammatory signal, and body iron store sliders to see how ferroportin density, dietary absorption rate, and macrophage iron release respond, and observe how sustained high or low hepcidin states drive the system toward anemia of inflammation or iron overload.

💡 Did You Know?

Macrophages recycle roughly 20 to 25 milligrams of iron every day just from breaking down aged red blood cells, more than ten times the one to two milligrams typically absorbed from a day's meals, which is why hepcidin's control over macrophage iron release matters as much as its control over gut absorption.

⚙ Under the hood

Explore how the liver hormone hepcidin controls the iron exporter ferroportin to balance dietary absorption, storage, and recycling, and what happens when this system fails.

ironhepcidinferroportinhemochromatosisanemiaphysiologyhematologymetabolism

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install