Abstract
The research described in this dissertation deals with various aspects of transferrin chemistry. A procedure for measuring the unsaturated iron binding capacity of serum by spectrophotometric titration is described. This method gives excellent reproducibility with fresh, frozen, lyophilized, and stored serum samples. An indirect method for analyzing this transferrin fraction is also described. In this method ferric-nitrilotriacetic acid, in excess of the anticipated binding capacity, is added to a serum sample supplemented with NaHCO₃. The addition of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) allows the mobilization or iron from nonspecific macromolecular sites. Ultrafiltration of the mixture and analysis of the ultrafiltrate iron will allow the calculation of the original unsaturated iron binding capacity. The precision of this method is excellent. The observation of a nonspecific serum iron population in patients with transfusion siderosis has been substantiated. This dissertation also reports the development and validation of a method for the quantitative analysis of this iron population. The technique depends on the mobilization of this iron from nonspecific macromolecular binding sites by EDTA and subsequent separation of Fe³⁺-EDTA from Fe³⁺-transferrin-CO²₃⁻ and hemoglobin by ultrafiltration. Sera containing artificially introduced nonspecific iron were prepared. The reactivity of artificial introduced nonspecific iron were prepared. The reactivity of artificial and pathological nonspecific iron was examined with regard to reduction and chelation as well as chelation by transferrin..
Graham, Gary Allen (1977). Studies on serum transferrin and nonspecific serum iron complexes. Texas A&M University. Texas A&M University. Libraries. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /DISSERTATIONS -365723.