title: Speciation of Al in human serum by convective-interaction media fast-monolithic chromatography with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometric detection.
abstract: A new analytical procedure using anion-exchange separation support based on convective-interaction media (CIM) was developed for the speciation of Al in human serum. The separation of proteins was performed on a weak anion-exchange CIM diethylamine (DEAE) fast-monolithic disk. To prevent co-elution of low molecular mass (LMM) Al species with high molecular mass (HMM) Al compounds on CIM disk serum proteins were first separated from LMM-Al species by the use of size exclusion chromatography (SEC). For this purpose 1 mL of serum was injected onto SEC (Superdex 75 HR 10/30) column. Isocratic elution using 0.05 M TRIS-HCl+0.03 M NaHCO(3) was applied and separation of proteins was followed by UV detection at 278 nm. It was experimentally proven that proteins were eluted in 5.5 mL peak that was collected into a polyethylene cup. A 0.1 mL of the sample aliquot was then injected onto the CIM DEAE disk. The separation of serum proteins was obtained in 10 min by applying linear gradient elution from 100% buffer A (0.05 M TRIS-HCl+0.03 M NaHCO(3)) to 100% buffer B (A+1M NH(4)Cl) and followed by UV detection at 278 nm. Separated Al species were detected on-line by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Well-resolved protein peaks were obtained. It was experimentally proven that 90+/-3% of Al in spiked serum of renal patient was eluted under the transferrin peak. The proposed speciation procedure removes LMM-Al species and enables reliable determination of the concentration and composition of Al bound to proteins by CIM DEAE-ICP-MS when the concentration of Al in serum is higher than 5 ng mL(-1). In comparison to chromatographic columns CIM disks enable faster separation and simpler manipulation during cleaning procedure and coupling to ICP-MS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Sciences, Jozef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Murko
authors.forename: Radmila
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Milacic
authors.forename: Janez
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Scancar
mesh_terms: D000535:Aluminum / Q000097:blood*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D002852:Chromatography, Ion Exchange; D006801:Humans; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D012015:Reference Standards; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet
chemical_list: D000535:Aluminum