title: Tissue digestion for aluminum determination in experimental animal studies.
abstract: Four different procedures for the determination of aluminum in tissues by atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) were investigated. They consisted of conventional acid digestion carried out before and after sample drying, associated or not with fat extraction. Drying was carried out in a conventional oven at 65 degrees C for 24 h. For fat extraction, different solvents and solvent mixtures were investigated considering both extraction yield and sample adequacy for further AAS measurement. Acid digestion was carried out with pure HNO3 or with its mixture with HClO4. After digestion, aluminum was measured by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. Tissues were collected from Al-exposed and nonexposed mice. The results indicated that drying the sample prior to digestion is advantageous as the amount of acid necessary can be significantly reduced. This procedure does not contribute to increase the aluminum level in the samples providing that careful measures to avoid contamination are taken, as the same procedures carried out without taking any precautions to avoid contamination produced imprecise results. Finally, aluminum was not found in the fatty fraction of any sample, even in exposed mice, demonstrating that aluminum does not accumulate in this part of the tissues.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Química, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, Brazil. ndenise@quimica.ufsm.br
authors.forename: Denise
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bohrer
authors.forename: Morgana Bassan
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Dessuy
authors.forename: Rosilene
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kaizer
authors.forename: Paulo Cícero
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: do Nascimento
authors.forename: Maria Rosa C
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Schetinger
authors.forename: Vera Maria
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Morsch
authors.forename: Leandro Machado
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: de Carvalho
authors.forename: Solange Cristina
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Garcia
mesh_terms: D000143:Acids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D000535:Aluminum / Q000032:analysis* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics* / Q000633:toxicity; D000818:Animals; D007202:Indicators and Reagents / Q000737:chemistry; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D010969:Plastics / Q000737:chemistry; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D014020:Tissue Extracts / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000143:Acids; D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D010969:Plastics; D014020:Tissue Extracts; D000535:Aluminum