Control of the Iron State in Pharmaceuticals Used for Treatment and Prevention of Iron Deficiency Using Mössbauer Spectroscopy.

Various iron-containing medicaments, vitamins and dietary supplements are used or developed for treatment and prevention of the iron deficiency anemia which is very dangerous for human and may cause various disorders. From the other hand, blood losses, iron poor diet, microelements (co-factors) deficiency, metabolic failures, absorption problems, etc. can change the iron status and affect the health. These pharmaceuticals contain iron compounds in the ferrous and ferric states. It is known that ferrous salts are more suitable for the intestinal intake than ferric ones. On the other hand, pharmaceutically important ferritin analogues contain ferric hydrous oxides and appear to be effective for both injections and peroral administration. 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy is a unique physical technique which allows one to study various iron-containing materials including pharmaceuticals. Therefore, this technique was applied to study iron-containing pharmaceuticals for the analysis of the iron state, identification of ferric and ferrous compounds, revealing some structural peculiarities and for detection of aging processes in relation to the iron compounds. This review considers the main results of a long experience in the study of iron-containing pharmaceuticals by Mössbauer spectroscopy with critical analysis that may be useful for pharmacists, biochemists, biophysicists, and physicians.

Mössbauer Spectroscopy with a High Velocity Resolution in the Studies of Nanomaterials.

The present review describes our long experience in the application of Mössbauer spectroscopy with a high velocity resolution (a high discretization of the velocity reference signal) in the studies of various nanosized and nanostructured iron-containing materials. The results reviewed discuss investigations of: (I) nanosized iron cores in: (i) extracted ferritin, (ii) ferritin in liver and spleen tissues in normal and pathological cases, (iii) ferritin in bacteria, (iv) pharmaceutical ferritin analogues; (II) nanoparticles developed for magnetic fluids for medical purposes; (III) nanoparticles and nanostructured FINEMET alloys developed for technical purposes. The results obtained demonstrate that the high velocity resolution Mössbauer spectroscopy permits to excavate more information and to extract more spectral components in the complex Mössbauer spectra with overlapped components, in comparison with those obtained by using conventional Mössbauer spectroscopy. This review also shows the advances of Mössbauer spectroscopy with a high velocity resolution in the study of various iron-based nanosized and nanostructured materials since 2005.