铁是人体必需的营养元素,在机体氧的运输和调节、细胞生长、人体氧化代谢等多方面都发挥重要的作用。铁缺乏或过量对机体都有害,维持体内铁代谢的平衡非常重要。因哺乳动物缺少铁的排泄途径,所以维持体内铁的稳态主要通过调节铁吸收来实现。一直以来人们对铁的吸收机制不是很清楚,而近几年一些新基因和新机制的发现对于人们在分子水平认识铁代谢有了很大的帮助。 Iron is an essential nutritional element of the human body and plays an important role in the transport and regulation of oxygen in the body, cell growth, and oxidative metabolism in the human body. Iron deficiency or excess is harmful to the body, maintaining the balance of iron metabolism in the body is very important. Because mammals lack the iron excretion pathway, maintaining iron homeostasis is mainly achieved by adjusting iron absorption. People’s understanding of iron absorption mechanism has not been very clear. However, the discovery of some new genes and mechanisms in recent years has been very helpful to people’s understanding of iron metabolism at the molecular level.