Iron in Central Nervous System Disorders : Springer : 9783211825204 : 3211825207 : 30 Dec 1993 : The role of the metals copper, zinc, magnesium, lead, manganese, mercury, lithium and aluminium in neuropsychiatric disease are well known and has been discussed on several occasions. Yet little attention has been paid to iron, the most abundant transitional metal in the body and the earth's crust. Iron plays a major role as a cofactor of numerous metabolic enzymes, it is important for DNA and protein synthesis, and has a crucial role in the oxygen carrying capacity of haemoglobin. Some of the most devastating diseases of systemic organs are associated with abnormal iron metabolism. Yet only very recently its role in the central nervous system has been considered. Thus nutritional iron defi­ ciency and iron overload afflict some 500-600 million people. It is also well recognized that too little or too much iron can produce profound effects on the metabolic state of the cell, and therefore t