DETERMINATION OF ALUMINUM IN DIFFERENT TISSUES OF THE RAT BY ATOMIC-ABSORPTION SPECTROMETRY WITH ELECTROTHERMAL ATOMIZATION

Atomic absorption spectrometry with electrothermal atomization was use d for the determination of aluminium in brain, liver, spleen, kidney c ortex, skeletal muscle and bone of the rat following digestion by nitr ic acid and in serum following simple dilution and in situ oxygen ashi ng. The method of standard additions in the presence of a chemical mod ifier, ammonium dihydrogenphosphate, was essential for bone tissues. T he detection limits ranged from 3 to 58 ng per gram of wet mass of tis sue and were 4-19 times lower than the observed physiological levels o f aluminium. The between-day precision for serum was 8.9% at a mean co ncentration of 6.8 mug l-1 and 2.4% at a mean concentration of 125.3 m ug l-1. Additionally, repeated analyses of National Institute of Stand ards and Technology Standard Reference Material 1577b Bovine Liver gav e a relative standard deviation of 12.2% (mean concentration = 0.8 mug g-1). Of the tissues studied, bone had at least ten times higher leve ls of aluminium than others (0.959 +/- 0.322 mug g-1). The aluminium c oncentration in cerebellum (0.073 +/- 0.043 mug g-1) was approximately twice that in the cerebral hemisphere (0.034 +/- 0.009 mug g-1).