The determination of iron in blood-plasma

Abstract

A NUMBER of investigators have made determinations of iron in blood-serum, chiefly with the object of ascertaining what changes, if any, occur in the nonhaemoglobinous iron of the blood in the anaemias. Most of the published methods involve the precipitation of the serum-proteins and the determination of iron in the protein-free filtrate. As a method for determining the iron present in solution in the blood (apart from that present in the cells) the use of proteinfree filtrates of serum is open to two objections. Firstly there is the possibility of the removal of some iron in the clot when serum is formed, and secondly iron may be removed in the protein precipitate. Whether such removal does or does not occur, can only be ascertained by experiment, for as yet we have no know-