Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 29, 2026
Quantitating Iron Transport Across the Mouse Placenta In Vivo Using Nonradioactive Iron Isotopes
Published on: May 10, 2022
[Evaluation of iron utilization in children using single stable isotopes tracer]
Yu Zhang1, Jianhua Piao1, Zhenwu Huang1
1Institute for Nutrition and Food Safety, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention; Laboratory of Trace Element Nutrition Moh China, Beijing 100050, China.
Objective:
To evaluate the iron utilization in children using single stable isotopes tracer.
Methods:
57 children aged from 10 to 12 from a primary school of Beijing in 2010 were selected, 30 of them were boys and 27 were girls. All the subjects were given 5 ml artificial enriched ⁵⁷FeSO₄ twice per day within 5 days, and the total amount of ⁵⁷Fe was 30 mg. 5 ml blood were taken at 1 day before and 14 days after test, and all the feces during the test were collected. The samples were detected by AAS and MC-ICP-MS after pre-treatment to determine the content and abundances of iron in samples, then the iron utilization in whole blood were calculated.
Results:
The blood volume of male and female subjects 14 days after test were (3.19 ± 0.41) and (3.15 ± 0.29) ml respectively, and there was no significantly difference (t = 1.13, P > 0.05) between them; The amount of ⁵⁷Fe intake by male and female subjects were (27.46 ± 0.25) and (27.29 ± 0.15) mg (t = 1.13, P > 0.05); The amount of ⁵⁷Fe in blood were (5.92 ± 0.71) and (6.30 ± 0.65) mg respectively (t = 2.29, P < 0.05); The iron utilization in whole blood at 14 days of male and female subjects were (20.41 ± 2.03)% and (22.04 ± 0.80)% respectively, male subjects were significantly lower than females (t = 2.51, P < 0.05).
Conclusion:
Single stable isotopes tracer can be used in iron utilization evaluation in children, and the iron utilization in whole blood of female children is higher than males.
