However, the concentration of manganese in whole blood is nearly 10 times that in serum, so analysis of
whole blood is less likely to suffer from sample contamination (the concentration of Mn in plasma is close
to the current ICPMS detection limit). The higher levels of manganese in whole blood as compared to
plasma reflect the sequestration of the metal into haemoglobin, which is a de-toxifying action of the
erythrocytes. However, nutritional deficiency of manganese is more likely to be apparent from its
concentration in plasma than that of whole blood.