title: Aluminum determination in whole blood, dialysis solution, and tap water samples from Maracaibo dialysis units (Venezuela) by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry.
abstract: Patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) on periodical hemodialysis may accumulate aluminum in tissues and show typical disorders such as dialysis encephalopathy, osteodystrophy, and microcytic anemia. Aluminum contamination of the water used to prepare the dialysis solution (dialysate) is one of the metal sources that may affect people under hemodialysis, especially in units in which untreated water is used. Graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometric methods for aluminum determination in whole blood, dialysis solution, and tap water samples from CRF patients were developed, based upon the use of the same furnace temperature program. Samples were diluted 4-fold with 0.6% triton X-100 (whole blood) or with 0.01 mol/L nitric acid (dialysis solution and tap water) and analyzed by aqueous standard (blood and tap water) or matrix-matching standard (dialysis solution) calibration curves. The characteristic masses were 33.8, 11.3, and 19.5 pg Al/0.0044 A.s for whole blood, dialysate, and tap water, respectively. In the diluted solutions, the detection limits (2 sigma) for the described methods were 0.5 microgram/L Al (whole blood), 0.4 microgram/L Al (dialysate), and 0.4 microgram/L Al (tap water). The methods were applied to samples from several CRF patients under hemodialysis at Maracaibo University hospital. The data revealed extremely high aluminum levels, which corresponded to the symptoms of dialysis encephalopathy and/or osteodystrophy showed by some of them. The proposed methods are reliable and reproducible.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Química, Facultad Experimental de Ciencias, Universidad del Zulia, Maracaibo, Venezuela.
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Navarro
authors.forename: O E
authors.initials: OE
authors.lastname: Parra
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Romero
mesh_terms: D000535:Aluminum / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood; D006108:Graphite; D015312:Hemodialysis Solutions / Q000737:chemistry*; D006436:Hemodialysis Units, Hospital / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000379:methods; D006435:Renal Dialysis / Q000009:adverse effects*; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic; D014687:Venezuela; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D015312:Hemodialysis Solutions; D014867:Water; D006108:Graphite; D000535:Aluminum