The measurement of serum transferrin by iron-binding capacity.

Two criteria which ought to be satisfied by an acceptable method for the estimation of serum transferrin by iron-binding capacity are enunciated. A screening procedure is described which involves the sequential quantitative use of ion exchange and gel filtration. Its use in testing the extent to which two published methods fulfil the recommended criteria is described. Both methods give results for total iron-binding capacity which are 1-10% high because of the inclusion of non-transferrin iron.