Ion chromatographic determination of metals in biocompatibility testing

The increasing numbers of materials used in surgical implants require a wid e spectrum of tests to evaluate their biocompatibility. The release of meta ls is an important additional feature for determining the suitability for c linical applications of biomaterials such as ceramics and metals. Due to th e difficulty of performing time-consuming experiments in vivo, one approach for rapidly determining the suitability of biomaterials and their interact ions with the tissues with which they will come in contact is to perform in vitro tests, based on cell culture analysis, using solutions that reproduc e the cleavage and binding capabilities of body fluids and tissues. The pre sent work reports on the application of ion chromatography to the simultane ous determination of some metal ions in a few biologic media. Agar-Agar sol ution, "199 medium," and betadine and Schiff's reagents were selected as so me of the most representative biologic simulating solutions. A method is re commended for the pretreatment of the sample with minimal reagent addition since it is very rich in organic compounds and cannot be analyzed without p retreatment. The proposed procedure requires the sample to be subjected to oxidative UV photolysis for about 60 min in an UV digester at 85 degrees +/ - 5 degrees C, followed by the ion chromatographic determination. Lead (II) , cadmium (II), iron (III), copper (II), nickel (II), zinc (II), and cobalt (II) simultaneously were determined at mu g/L levels. (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.