Elemental Analysis of Serum by Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy in Comparison to Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy

Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES), a modern technique with high sensitivity, accuracy and low matrix effect, is applied extensively in multielement analysis of serum and other biological materials. The objective of this study has been to develop a reliable and practical method for ICP-AES to estimate the serum concentrations of Zn, Cu, Fe, Mg, Ca, Na and K. 60 serum specimens were analyzed by both ICP-AES and Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS). The results were compared by the t-test and linear regression analysis. In comparison to the AAS method, the ICP-AES yields slightly higher Cu, Mg, Ca and K, and lower Zn, Fe and Na values. Except for Zn (r= 0.612), the correlation between the results is very high (³0.942), indicating that the ICP-AES results are equally satisfactory. In conclusion, ICP-AES is a reliable technique with the advantages of minimal sample volume and analysis time.