First study on iron complexes in blood and organ samples from thalassaemic and normal laboratory mice using Mössbauer spectroscopy

Bioanalytical applications of Mössbauer spectroscopy

Data on the applications of Mössbauer spectroscopy in the transmission (mainly on 57Fe nuclei) and emission (on 57Co nuclei) variants for analytical studies at the molecular level of metal-containing components in a wide range of biological objects (from biocomplexes and biomacromolecules to supramolecular structures, cells, tissues and organisms) and of objects that are participants or products of biological processes, published in the last 15 years are discussed and systematized. The prospects of the technique in its biological applications, including the developing fields (emission variant, use of synchrotron radiation), are formulated.

The bibliography includes 248 references.

57Fe enrichment in mice for β-thalassaemia studies via Mössbauer spectroscopy of blood samples

In this work, wild-type and heterozygous β-thalassaemic mice were enriched with ⁵⁷Fe via gastrointestinal absorption to characterize in greater detail the iron complexes then identifiable via Mössbauer spectroscopy. The ⁵⁷Fe enrichment method was validated and Mössbauer spectra were obtained at 80 K from blood samples from wild-type and β-thalassaemic mice at 1, 3, 6, and 9 months of age. As expected, the haemoglobin levels of the thalassaemic mice were lower than from normal mice, indicating anaemia. Furthermore, significant amounts of ferritin-like iron were observed in the thalassaemic mice samples, which decreased with mouse age, reflecting the pattern of reticulocyte count reduction reported in the literature.