COMPARISON OF INDUCTIVELY-COUPLED PLASMA-ATOMIC EMISSION-SPECTROMETRYAND INDUCTIVELY-COUPLED PLASMA-MASS SPECTROMETRY WITH QUANTITATIVE NEUTRON-CAPTURE RADIOGRAPHY FOR THE DETERMINATION OF BORON IN BIOLOGICALSAMPLES FROM CANCER-THERAPY

A boron-containing compound was administered to tumor-bearing mice and the time-dependent concentration was determined by ICP-AES, ICP-MS an d quantitative neutron capture radiography (QNCR). The atomic spectrom etric procedures were optimized to minimize analyte losses during micr owave digestion. Non-spectroscopic interferences were investigated in detail and appropriate internal standards were established for ICP-MS. The best detection limits achieved for boron were 30 ng ml(-1) by ICP -AES and 0.3 ng ml(-1) by ICP-MS. The respective determination limits in the digested and diluted tissue samples were 0.4 mu g ml(-1) and 3 ng ml(-1). The results of the spectrometric determinations were confir med by QNCR of whole-body cryosections of six mice, A brief descriptio n of the metabolism of the boron compound is given.