Development of an Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Method for Determining Aluminium Levels in Animal Tissues following Exposure and Its Distribution Across Various Tissues

Abstract

In this study, an inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy method was developed to determine the Al in rats' tissue (liver, kidneys and testicles). The Mg II (280.270 nm)/Mg I (285.213 nm) ratio was used to achieve plasma robustness. The method was validated by detection and quantification limit, accuracy, precision, linearity and recovery. For the chosen analytical line of 308.215 nm, the correlation coefficient was 0.99998 in the checked interval. The limits of detection (0.067 µg/g) and quantification (0.225 µg/g), as a measure of the sensitivity of the method, were calculated. A total of 36 rats were treated with varying doses of AlCl₃ for 8 weeks, after which their tissues were analysed. The results obtained showed that the Al accumulation decreased in the order liver > kidneys > testicles. Also, liver and testicle samples treated with verapamil show lower aluminium accumulation than samples treated with the same aluminium concentration without verapamil. The recoveries in spiked samples were between 91.8% and 108.4%. Multivariate methods were used to differentiate samples based on aluminium contents. The results of the research show the protective effect of verapamil in chronic aluminium exposure and could be important in further medicinal (therapeutic) studies.