[ noun ] a globulin in blood plasma that carries iron <noun.substance>
The investigators used gallium, a metal similar to aluminum, to measure whether aluminum's binding to transferrin was impaired.
The small-scale study suggests aluminum may accumulate in brains of Alzheimer's patients because they have defective transferrin, a blood protein to which aluminium normally binds in the blood stream.
For these patients, "the amount of binding to transferrin is less than half the normal amount," said Dr. Altmann.