Microanalytical method development for Fe, Cu and Zn determination in colorectal cancer cells

Abstract Microanalytical methods suitable for the determination of Fe, Cu in HT-29 (human colon adenocarcinoma) cells treated with different iron compounds (Fe(II) sulfate, Fe(III) chloride, Fe(III) citrate and Fe(III) transferrin) and cultured in medium supplemented or not with 10% (v/v) fetal calf serum (FCS) by total reflection X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (TXRF) and simultaneous graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GF-AAS) were developed. The developed TXRF method was also suitable for Zn determination in the samples. The main advantage of the proposed methods is the execution of all sample preparation steps following incubation and prior to the elemental analysis in the same Eppendorf tubes. Sample preparation was performed at microscale (115 μL sample volume) with 65% nitric acid and 30% hydrogen peroxide. According to scanning electron microscopic measurements, the organic matrix of the cell samples could be eliminated to the extent that accurate results were obtained for Cu and Fe by analyzing the same samples by TXRF and GF-AAS. Concerning the iron uptake, HT-29 cells incubated in FCS-free medium contained Fe in cca. 5–50 times higher amounts compared to cells cultured in FCS supplemented medium. Pronounced differences in the iron uptake compared to the iron supply (inorganic vs. organic chelated as well as iron(II) vs. iron(III)) were observed in the case of cell lines incubated in FCS-free medium.