Determination of Cu, Fe, Mn, and Zn in blood fractions by SEC-HPLC-ICP-AES coupling

The binding of Cu, Fe, Mn, and Zn to proteins in blood and in blood fractions was investigated, since their interactions in free radical metabolism in humans is of great interest. An HPLC-ICP-AES technique was developed allowing adequate separation of metalloproteins and of inorganic and organic metal species. For the separation of metalloproteins in erythrocytes and blood plasma a Merck Superformance Fractogel EMD BioSEC 650 (S) column was used. Size exclusion chromatography (SEC)-HPLC was hyphenated to ICP-AES both on-line and off-line for the detection of trace elements in the fractions resulting from HPLC separations. HPLC parameters, pH, temperature, flow rate and salt concentration were optimized for the protein separation and the optimal conditions were applied for the hyphenation to the ICP-AES detector. The separation column was calibrated with five standard proteins. For the element determination by ICP-AES a line selection with respect to the sensitivity was performed. Three different methods were used for the determination of trace elements in blood: direct determinations, on-line and off-line SEC-HPLC-ICP-AES measurements. For the optimizing experiments blood samples of one female subject were used. The direct determination by ICP-AES of the elements was performed in blood and blood fractions of ten different subjects to obtain the average concentration ranges. From the results the identification of the protein Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase in erythrocytes was possible. The LOD were 0.03 microgram mL-1 for Cu, 0.026 microgram mL-1 for Fe, 0.8 ng mL-1 for Mn, and 0.09 microgram mL-1 for Zn in a synthetic blood matrix.