Activation Analysis in Human Biochemistry

The major applications of activation analysis in human biochemistry have been in the study of trace elements. Up to the present time the main emphasis has been on the study of the concentrations of one or many different elements, metallic and non-metallic, in the blood, cerebrospinal fluid, urine and teeth, as well as in various tissues. The availability of techniques for the simultaneous determination of many elements in a single sample permits the use of activation analysis for the study of trace element patterns under normal and pathological conditions. Such studies may indicate disturbances of the metabolism of certain elements in a specific disease, for example the disturbances of copper and manganese metabolism in some forms of cirrhosis of the liver, or may suggest hitherto unsuspected inter-relationships between two or more trace elements. Enriched stable isotope preparations and neutron activation analysis can be used for the study of the kinetics of trace element metabolism. This procedure is potentially capable of wide application not only to trace elements but also proteins or other compounds labelled with a suitable stable isotope. The application of activation analysis together with chromatography, or other separation procedures, to the determination of elements in specific compounds has not yet been extensively applied in human biochemistry, although some studies on iodine-containing hormones have been reported. Further development of this type of technique, and of others such as neutron activation of tissue sections, may well yield important information on the form in which certain elements occur and are located in tissues. (author)