The Caco-2 Cell Bioassay for Measurement of Food Iron Bioavailability

Knowledge of Fe bioavailability is critical to the assessment of the nutritional quality of Fe in foods. In vivo measurement of Fe bioavailability is limited by cost, throughput, and the caveats inherent to isotopic labeling of the food Fe. Thus, there exists a critical need for an approach that is high-throughput and cost-effective. The Caco-2 cell bioassay was developed to satisfy this need. The Caco-2 cell bioassay for Fe bioavailability utilizes simulated gastric and intestinal digestion coupled with culture of a human intestinal epithelial cell line known as Caco-2. In Caco-2 cells, Fe uptake stimulates the intracellular formation of ferritin, an Fe storage protein easily measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Ferritin forms in proportion to Fe uptake; thus, by measuring Caco-2 cell ferritin production, one can assess intestinal Fe uptake from simulated food digests into the enterocyte. Via this approach, the model replicates the key initial step that determines food Fe bioavailability. Since its inception in 1998, this model approach has been rigorously compared to factors known to influence human Fe bioavailability. Moreover, it has been applied in parallel studies, with three human efficacy studies evaluating Fe biofortified crops. In all cases, the bioassay correctly predicted the relative amounts of Fe bioavailability from the factors, crops, and overall diet. This paper provides detailed methods on Caco-2 cell culture coupled with the in vitro digestion process and cell ferritin ELISA necessary to conduct the Caco-2 cell bioassay for Fe bioavailability.