title: A semiautomated system for analysis of metals in biological materials and its application to mass determination of cadmium in blood.
abstract: A semiautomated system was developed for the determination of metals in biological materials by the combination of block-digestion-autosampler-flameless atomic absorption spectrophotometry. For block-digestion which can mineralize 144 samples in 10 h, a Pyrex micro Kjeldahl tube of a special shape was designed when applied to the mass analyses of cadmium in 1761 blood samples from non-exposed subjects, the system as a whole was sensitive enough with the lowest detection limit of 0.2 ng cadmium/ml blood, and able to measure about 50 samples every day, essentially without aid. Experiences are described with necessary comments.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001322:Autoanalysis / Q000379:methods; D002104:Cadmium / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008670:Metals / Q000032:analysis*; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D008670:Metals; D002104:Cadmium