Studies on Hot Springs and Iron Metabolism
- VernacularTitle:温泉と鉄代謝に関する研究
- Author:
Taro OKAZAKI
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- From:The Journal of The Japanese Society of Balneology, Climatology and Physical Medicine
1962;26(1):1-9
- CountryJapan
- Language:Japanese
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Abstract:
It has been generally recognized that balneotherapy is effective for anemia, especially drinking of ferruginous spring is quite effective for iron deficiency anemia. Although considerable morphological researches have been done in the field, the reports dealing with the biochemical analysis are few in number. Accordingly, the mechanism of the action of hot spring on hematopoietic function still remains obscured. For this reason, the author has made an attempt to observe the iron metabolism in order to clarify the mechanism.
Part I is concerned with critical studies in methods for iron determination.
1) Hemolysis easily occurs in the process of separation of rabbit serum, but usage of a centrifuge tube coated with “solid paraffin” helps to prevent this. Another advantage of this simple method is to increase the amount of serum obtained.
2) Compared with sensitivities of various kinds of chromogenic agents employed in iron determination, nitroso-R salt (α-Nitroso-β-naphthol-3, 6-disulfonic Acid Sodium Salt) was greater in sensitivity than any other, as already reported by other workers.
As for the factors which have influence upon the time required for the complete color development in nitroso-R salt, the wave-length and the addition of hydroxylamin have been already described, and the author pointed out temperature as the most important factor. From the author's experiments, it was confirmed that when temperature was kept at 37.0°C, complete color development occurred and kept its stability in 10 to 15 hours.
3) The serum iron value, obtained by Ramsay's method, was easily influenced by hemolysis. Accordingly, the author tried to find the relation between the measurement error of serum iron and the degree of hemolysis.
This attempt may be convenient in estimating the iron value in a hemolysed specimen.
4) Considering the above, some alterations were made on the routine optical method for the determination of unsaturated iron binding capacity (UIBC).
The mean value for UIBC of healthy mature rabbits was 117.3γ/dl.
5) The author devised a new micromethod for determination of ferrous and ferric ion in iron solution.
This method is also applicable to ferruginous spring in which permanganate titration is not employed owing to coexisting reducing materials.
