Femtogram resolution of iron content on a per cell Basis: Ex vivo storage of human red blood cells leads to loss of hemoglobin
Open accessAbstract
The magnetic characteristics of hemoglobin (Hb) changes with the binding of dioxygen (O 2 ) to the heme prosthetic groups of the globin chains: from paramagnetic ferrous Hb to diamagnetic ferrous oxyhemoglobin (oxyHb) with reversibly bound O 2, or paramagnetic ferric methemoglobin (metHb). When multiplied over the number of Hb molecules in a red blood cell (RBC), the effect is detectable through motion analysis of RBCs in a high magnetic field and gradient. This motion is referred to as magnetophoretic mobility, which can be conveniently expressed as a fraction of the cell sedimentation velocity. In this Article, using a previously developed and reported instrument, cell tracking velocimetry (CTV), we are able to detect difference in Hb concentration in two RBC populations to a resolution of 1 × 10 7 Hb molecules per cell (4 × 10 7 atoms of Fe per cell or 4–5 femtograms of Fe). Similar resolution achieved with inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry requires on the order of 10 5 –10 6 cells and provides an average, whereas CTV provides a measurement for each cell. CTV analysis revealed that RBCs lose, on average, 17% of their Hb after 42 days of storage, the maximum FDA-approved length of time for the cold storage of RBCs in additive solution. This difference in Hb concentration was the result of routine RBC storage; clinical implications are discussed.
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There are about 1 × 10^9 atoms of iron in a human red blood cell.
“Thus, there are about 1 × 10 9 atoms of iron in a human RBC (Chalmers et al., 2017;Zborowski et al., 2003).”
From Iron in infection and immunity (2020) · cites this paper as Chalmers et al., 2017
The Abstract gives 4 × 10^7 iron atoms per cell as the instrument’s resolution, not the total iron in a red blood cell. The Introduction refers to a table of average iron contents, but the passages available from our copy do not give an RBC value; searches for 1 × 10^9 atoms and equivalent iron-content terms did not establish the claimed number. (LLM, conf=0.70)
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- Authors
- Chalmers, J. J., Jin, X., Palmer, A. F., Yazer, M. H., Moore, L., Amaya, P., Park, K., Pan, X., & Zborowski, M.
- Affiliations
- The Ohio State University (US)
- Cleveland Clinic (US)
- University of Pittsburgh (US)
- Corresponding author
- Chalmers, J. J.
- Zborowski, M.
- Venue
- Analytical Chemistry
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2017-03-09
- Volume
- 89
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 3702-3709
- ISSN
- 0003-2700 (ISSN-L)
- 1520-6882
- PMC
- PMC5685515
- OpenAlex
- W2590622639
- Cited by
- 21
- References
- 45
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 4
- FWCI
- 1.66
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Analytical Chemistry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Cancer Institute (RO1 CA62349)
- Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (BAA07-21)
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (1R01HL131720-01A1)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Biochemistry › Blood transfusion and management
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine › Blood properties and coagulation
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Hemoglobin structure and function
- Keywords
- red blood cell storage, hemoglobin loss, magnetophoretic mobility, methemoglobin, oxyhemoglobin, single-cell analysis
- MeSH terms
- Erythrocytes, Hemoglobins, Humans, Iron, Oxygen, Rheology, Cell Tracking
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