Subattomole sensitivity in biological accelerator mass spectrometry.
The Uppsala University 5 MV Pelletron tandem accelerator has been used to study (14)C-labeled biological samples utilizing accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) technology. We have adapted a sample preparation method for small biological samples down to a few tens of micrograms of carbon, involving among others, miniaturizing of the graphitization reactor. Standard AMS requires about 1 mg of carbon with a limit of quantitation of about 10 amol. Results are presented for a range of small sample sizes with concentrations down to below 1 pM of a pharmaceutical substance in human blood. It is shown that (14)C-labeled molecular markers can be routinely measured from the femtomole range down to a few hundred zeptomole (10 (-21) mol), without the use of any additional separation methods.
Salehpour
Mehran
M
Ion Physics, Angström Laboratory, Department of Engineering Sciences, Box 534, Uppsala University, SE-751 21 Uppsala, Sweden. mehran.salehpour@teknik.uu.se
Possnert
Göran
G
Bryhni
Helge
H
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000097:blood / Q000652:urine; D006801:Humans; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents