Multielemental determination in normal, benign, and cancerous tissues of the human brain

Although the metal content of the human body is only about 3%, metals are very important for human lives. Diseases occur when an excess or deficiency of in-vivo metals appear, when other metal pollutants enter the body, or when poisons or viruses enter into the metal ligand competition. Cancer is caused by carcinogens, which are substances capable of producing tumors in any test species at any dose level. This paper discusses the determination of some elements in diseased tissues of the human brain. As the elements present are mostly at micro- or nano-gram levels, the very sensitive technique of neutron activation analysis involving radiochemical separation has been employed. Substocihiometric estimations were carried out wherever possible. The radiochemical separation procedure includes a solvent extraction and precipitation technique. The elements estimated in the tissue samples are Cu, Au, As, Se, Hg, Co, Zn, Ca, Fe, P, Cr, Na and K. The accuracy, precision, and radiochemical purity of the method have been discussed. Two samples and a standard can be analyzed in four days. (author) 2 refs.; 3 tabs