TY - JOUR
T1 - Calcein as a fluorescent iron chemosensor for the determination of low molecular weight iron in biological fluids
AU - Ali, Aktar
AU - Zhang, Qi
AU - Dai, Jisen
AU - Huang, Xi
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported in part by a grant from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (OH03156) and a grant from the Department of Defense (DAMD17-01-10576).
PY - 2003/6
Y1 - 2003/6
N2 - The fluorescence quenching of calcein (CA) is not iron specific and results in a negative calibration curve. In the present study, deferoxamine (DFO), a strong iron chelator, was used to regenerate the fluorescence quenched by iron. Therefore, the differences in fluorescence reading of the same sample with or without addition of DFO are positively and specifically proportional to the amounts of iron. We found that the same iron species but different anions (e.g. ferric sulfate or ferric citrate) differed in CA fluorescence quenching, so did the same anions but different iron (e.g. ferrous or ferric sulfates). Excessive amounts of citrate competed with CA for iron and citrate could be removed by barium precipitation. After optimizing the experimental conditions, the sensitivity of the fluorescent CA assay is 0.02 μM of iron, at least 10 times more sensitive than the colorimetric assays. Sera from 6 healthy subjects were tested for low molecular weight (LMW) chelator bound iron in the filtrates of 10 kDa nominal molecular weight limit (NMWL). The LMW iron was marginally detectable in the normal sera. However, increased levels of LMW iron were obtained at higher transferrin (Tf) saturation (1.64-2.54 μM range at 80% Tf saturation, 2.77-3.15 μM range at 100% Tf saturation and 3.09-3.39 μM range at 120% Tf saturation). The application of the assay was further demonstrated in the filtrates of human liver HepG2 and human lung epithelial A549 cells treated with iron or iron-containing dusts.
AB - The fluorescence quenching of calcein (CA) is not iron specific and results in a negative calibration curve. In the present study, deferoxamine (DFO), a strong iron chelator, was used to regenerate the fluorescence quenched by iron. Therefore, the differences in fluorescence reading of the same sample with or without addition of DFO are positively and specifically proportional to the amounts of iron. We found that the same iron species but different anions (e.g. ferric sulfate or ferric citrate) differed in CA fluorescence quenching, so did the same anions but different iron (e.g. ferrous or ferric sulfates). Excessive amounts of citrate competed with CA for iron and citrate could be removed by barium precipitation. After optimizing the experimental conditions, the sensitivity of the fluorescent CA assay is 0.02 μM of iron, at least 10 times more sensitive than the colorimetric assays. Sera from 6 healthy subjects were tested for low molecular weight (LMW) chelator bound iron in the filtrates of 10 kDa nominal molecular weight limit (NMWL). The LMW iron was marginally detectable in the normal sera. However, increased levels of LMW iron were obtained at higher transferrin (Tf) saturation (1.64-2.54 μM range at 80% Tf saturation, 2.77-3.15 μM range at 100% Tf saturation and 3.09-3.39 μM range at 120% Tf saturation). The application of the assay was further demonstrated in the filtrates of human liver HepG2 and human lung epithelial A549 cells treated with iron or iron-containing dusts.
KW - Calcein
KW - Iron
KW - Iron overload
KW - Low molecular weight iron
KW - Non-transferrin bound iron
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U2 - 10.1023/A:1020642808437
DO - 10.1023/A:1020642808437
M3 - Article
C2 - 12572687
AN - SCOPUS:0037409871
SN - 0966-0844
VL - 16
SP - 285
EP - 293
JO - BioMetals
JF - BioMetals
IS - 2
ER -