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Updated: Nov 28, 2025

Identification and Quantification of Deranged Metabolites in Critically Ill Patients Using NMR-Based Metabolomics
Published on: November 29, 2024
Determination of Methemoglobin in Hemoglobin Submicron Particles Using NMR Relaxometry
Waraporn Kaewprayoon1,2, Nittiya Suwannasom1,3, Chiraphat Kloypan1,4
1Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Institute of Transfusion Medicine, 10117 Berlin, Germany.
Abstract:
Methemoglobin (MetHb) is a hemoglobin (Hb) derivative with the heme iron in ferric state (Fe3+), unable to deliver oxygen. Quantification of methemoglobin is a very important diagnostic parameter in hypoxia. Recently, novel hemoglobin microparticles (Hb-MP) with a narrow size distribution around 700 nm, consisting of cross-linked Hb were proposed as artificial oxygen carriers. The cross-linking of Hb by glutaraldehyde (GA) generates a certain amount of MetHb. Due to the strong light scattering, quantitative determination of MetHb in Hb-MP suspensions by common spectrophotometry is not possible. Here, we demonstrate that 1H2O NMR relaxometry is a perfect tool for direct measurement of total Hb and MetHb concentrations in Hb-MP samples. The longitudinal relaxation rate 1/T1 shows a linear increase with increasing MetHb concentration, whereas the transverse relaxation rate 1/T2 linearly increases with the total Hb concentration. In both linear regressions the determination coefficient (R2) is higher than 0.99. The method does not require time-consuming pretreatment or digestion of the particles and is not impaired by light scattering. Therefore, it can be established as the method of choice for the quality control of Hb-MP and similar hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers in the future.
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