Quantitative Analyses of Urinary Uranium by μ-PIXE

Simple methods for the determination of elements in biological fluids have been developed. It is important to quantify the accidental incorporation of radionuclides during the decommissioning work at nuclear power plants. Herein, we proposed the simple preparations and determination methods of uranium concentrations in urine for microbeam scanning particle induced X-ray emission (mu-PIXE) analysis in a rat model. A droplet (1 mu L) of mixed solution of urine treated with a five-fold amount of concentrated nitric acid was placed on polypropylene film coated with perfluoroalkoxy alkanes (PFA) and dried at room temperature. The mu-PIXE imaging analysis revealed that successful condensation with homogeneous distribution of uranium in the specimen was achieved using by PFA coating. Uranium concentrations in the urine collected from uranium-injected rats were quantified. The obtained results were consistent with those determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.

Automated summary

In this study, simple methods for determination of elements in biological fluids were developed and applied to quantify uranium concentrations in urine in a rat model. The results showed successful condensation and homogeneous distribution of uranium in the specimen using PFA coating, with consistent results compared to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.