A simple {sup 197}Hg RNAA procedure for the determination of mercury in urine, blood, and tissue

Journal Article · Sun Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1995 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society

OSTI ID:411504

Blotcky, A J ^[1]; Rack, E P; Meade, A G ^[2]

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1. VA Medical Center, Omaha, NE (United States)
2. Univ. of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE (United States); and others

Mercury has been implicated as a causal agent in such central nervous system diseases as Alzheimer`s and Parkinson`s. Consequently, there has been increased interest in the determination of ultra-trace-level mercury in biological matrices, especially in tissue. While such nonnuclear techniques as cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry and cold vapor atomic fluorescence spectrometry have been employed routinely for mercury determinations in urine and blood, there is a paucity of nonnuclear techniques for the determination of mercury in the low parts-per-billion range in biological tissue. As pointed out by Fardy and Warner, instrumental and radiochemical neutron activation analysis (INAA and RNAA) require no blank determinations in contrast to nonnuclear analytical techniques employing digestion and/or chemical operations. Therefore, INAA and RNAA become the obvious choices for determination of ultra-trace levels of mercury in tissue. Most separation methods reported in the literature require different and separate methodologies for mercury determinations in urine, blood, or tissue. The purposes of this study are to develop a single methodology for the determination of low levels of mercury in all biological matrices by RNAA and to optimize parameters necessary for an efficacious trace-level determination. Previously, few studies have taken into account the effects of the Szilard-Chalmers reactions of the radioactivatable analyte within a biological matrix. It also would appear that little attention has been given to the optimum postirradiation carrier concentration of the analyte species necessary. This study discusses these various considerations.

• OSTI ID: 411504
• Report Number(s): CONF-951006--
• Journal Information: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society Vol. 73; ISSN 0003-018X; ISSN TANSAO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

40 CHEMISTRY
ANIMAL TISSUES
BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS
BLOOD
CONCENTRATION RATIO
FLUORESCENCE
MERCURY
MERCURY 197
NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS
RADIOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS
URINE