DETERMINATION OF PLATINUM IN CLINICAL SAMPLES

ABSTRACT

The discovery of Pt-containing anticancer drugs in the 1970s has led to the synthesis of a multitude of new Pt compounds which may provide improved therapies for the disease. Unfortunately, many of these drugs have toxic side effects, so they are administered in small doses at low concentration. To understand the in vivo behavior of these compounds, the drugs or their metabolites must be detected at dilute levels in various body fluids and tissues. The challenge for the analytical chemist, then, is to accurately determine these species at or below the part per billion level in the native sample. An obvious strategy to Pt-drug detection is to apply the very sensitive and selective techniques already available for the determination of Pt metal. Clinical specimens can be treated with acid or digested at high temperature. Analysis may then be performed by conventional atomic absorption spectrometry, atomic emission spectrometry, atomic mass spectrometry, or even stripping voltammetry. This manuscript will discuss these techniques as they pertain to Pt in clinical samples. The analytical figures of merit, sample preparation procedures, and specific clinical applications of each technique will be reviewed. Finally, preconcentration and speciation methods will be described.

Keywords:

• Platinum
• Clinical
• Cisplatin
• Atomic Absorption
• Inductively coupled plasma
• Mass spectrometry
• Liquid chromatography

Acknowledgments