The measurement of iron in rat liver tissue and subcellular fractions using atomic absorption spectroscopy.

To permit the measurement of iron in small amounts of liver tissue or subcellular fractions, a procedure based on wet ashing and atomic absorption spectroscopy has been developed. This procedure, which can detect iron down to a concentration of 0.1 mug/ml, has been used with ferric chloride and Jectofer (iron-citric acid-sorbitol complex) solutions as well as liver homogenates and subcellular fractions. Interference from constituents of liver tissue has not been observed and measurements on fractions appear to be quantitative. Individual determinations had a variability of approximately 10%.