Liquid Chromatography-NAA

In order to study the chemical species of trace elements in biological samples, the elemental contents in the effluents will be determined after separation. The multielement character of NAA, as well as its high sensitivity for many elements, is ideal for the task. Since the column effluents are liquid, the fractions are usually freeze dried, then subjected to NAA. 

Evans and Fritze studied the distribution of protein-bound copper in human serum by a combination of gel chromatography and NAA. Norheim and Steinnes described a method involving isolation of liver proteins followed by fractionation using gel filtration and subsequent determination of the elements 

Values in parentheses indicate the real number of samples measured. 

Element Nuclei Mitochondria Lysosome Microsome Cytosol 

and Se in the individual elution fractions by RNAA. Because of high levels of sodium and bromine, the background in the gamma spectrum in tissue samples are generally high after neutron activation and where many trace elements of interest are present in quite low concentration, displaying only very small peaks. RNAA is an ideal solution to this problem. 

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