Method Development and Subsequent Survey Analysis of Biological Tissues for Platinum, Lead, and Manganese Content

Abstract

An emission spectrochemical method is described for the determination of trace quantities of platinum, lead, and manganese in biological tissues. Total energy burns in an argon-oxygen atmosphere are employed. Sample preparation, conditions of analysis, and preparation of standards are discussed. The precision of the method is consistently better than +15%, and comparative analyses indicate comparable accuracies. Data obtained for experimental rat tissues and for selected autopsy tissues are presented.

Determination of Platinum, Palladium, and Lead in Biological Samples by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry

“…Several important criteria were considered in developing methods for Pt, Pd and Pb analyses of biological materials: (1) the expected low concentration of Pt and Pd would require some preconcentration procedure; (2) the method for each metal had to be simple, fast and accurate, as a large number of samples had to be analyzed in a relatively short period of time; (3) preferably, the preconcentration step (extraction) should remove Pt, Pd and Pb, to reduce the time needed for sample preparation; (4) the quantity of sample available for analysis would be limited and therefore place restrictions upon the limit of detection of Pt and Pd; (5) finally, the time available for methodology development of Pt and Pd procedures was limited.…”

Noble metals: a toxicological appraisal of potential new environmental contaminants.

“…Preliminary cardiovascular studies suggest that palladium can act as a nonspecific cardiac irritant as well as a peripheral vasoconstrictor in experimental animals (90). At the present time, there is relatively little contamination of platinum in human tissues (72).…”

“…Preliminary results will be presented and include the following highlights. Platinum and palladium can be absorbed into biological tissues when administered to experimental animals by various exposure routes (72,90,98); soluble platinum compounds (Pt+4) are more toxic than compounds of other metals of interest (Mn, Pb) when administered orally; however palladium is more toxic than these metals when administered intravenously (98). Absorbed noble metals can traverse the placental barrier in pregnant experimental animals (90).…”

Metabolic data for platinum

“…In studies on the distribution of platinum in the rat, after inhalation of the metal, high concentrations of the element were found in the kidneys and, to a lesser extent, in bone (Moore et al, 1975b). Analysis of the concentration of stable platinum in various tissues of rats fed a diet supplemented with Pt(SO,), .4H,O conllrm that the kidneys take up platinum to a considerable extent (Yoakum, Stewart and Sterrett, 1975).…”