Cellular Iron Quantification Service

It has been found that the processes of absorption, transport, storage and utilization of iron ions, as well as their excessive accumulation in cells, have an important relationship with the aging and disease production of the organism. Protheragen offers assays related to cellular iron quantification to help our customers conduct in-depth research on related topics.

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Cellular Iron Metabolism

Iron is an essential trace element in human body, the total iron content in healthy adults is 3~5 g, 70% of which is heme iron, distributed in hemoglobin and myoglobin, and most of the rest is stored in hepatocytes and reticuloendothelial cells in the form of ferritin or iron-containing hemoglobin. Mitochondria are the main cellular hub for iron utilization and metabolism, and iron is a cofactor for several mitochondrial proteins, including iron-sulfur clusters and heme-containing proteins. These iron-containing proteins are involved in the mitochondrial tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle and the electron transport chain (ETC).

Iron supplementation enhances mitochondrial functions ^[1].

Iron Level in Tumor Cells

To ensure an adequate supply of iron, tumors usually enhance the cellular iron uptake mechanism while inhibiting its output. At the same time, innate immune cells such as macrophages and neutrophils contribute to dysregulated iron metabolism in cancer cells, specifically, macrophages and neutrophils can serve as a source of iron and iron-related proteins.

• Sources of Iron in TME: Macrophages and Neutrophils
  M1 macrophages showed high ferritin expression and low iron transporter protein expression, favoring iron chelation in macrophages. On the other hand, M2 macrophages showed low ferritin expression and high iron transporter protein expression, again exhibiting an iron source similar to that of serum tumor-associated material. Iron participates in generating the oxidative burst that is required to kill phagocytosed microbes in neutrophils. Moreover, neutrophils produce large amounts of lipocalin-2 and lactoferrin, both of which are iron-scavenging proteins and thus limit microbial growth.
• Cell Damage Caused by Iron Deficiency
  Iron-regulator-mediated hypoferritinemia leads to a substantial reduction in neutrophils and affects neutrophil effector functions. Also, deletion of iron regulatory protein IRP1/2 leads to neutropenia and affects neutrophil development and differentiation.

Iron metabolism in the crosstalk between cancer cells and macrophages or neutrophils ^[2].

Our Services

Accurate quantification of intracellular iron content is important for biomedical applications of magnetic nanoparticles. Protheragen helps our customers with their iron metabolism or localization studies with specialized optical imaging instruments for the quantification of iron in individual cells or cell populations.

Total Iron Quantification for Cell Populations

Our comprehensive ICP-MS platform allows us to determine the total metal content of various types of cells provided by our customers in batch culture, and then average the iron content of individual bacterial cells based on the total number of cells measured, helping our customers to conduct research on topics related to cellular iron metabolism.

ICP-MS Process

Iron Quantification for Single Cell

Significant advances in single cell ICP-MS (SC-ICP-MS) based analysis techniques have made the direct determination of metal content within individual cells a reality. We can perform direct determination of single cell iron in various types of cells and cellular disease models to assist our customers in their studies related to cellular iron metabolism.

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Our Advantages

Protheragen has a professional team and advanced equipment, and the whole process is operated by experienced technicians to provide our customers with iron metabolism related cellular assay services. If you have any needs, please contact us.