Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-x5gtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-03T13:03:30.888Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

How to Convert Biological Carbon Into Graphite for AMS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Girma Getachew
Affiliation:
Department of Nutrition, University of California, Davis, California 95616, USA.
Seung-Hyun Kim
Affiliation:
Department of Nutrition, University of California, Davis, California 95616, USA.
Betty J Burri
Affiliation:
USDA, Western Human Nutrition Research Center, Davis, California 95616, USA.
Peter B Kelly
Affiliation:
Department of Chemistry, University of California, Davis, California 95616, USA.
Kurt W Haack
Affiliation:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550, USA.
Ted J Ognibene
Affiliation:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550, USA.
Bruce A Buchholz
Affiliation:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550, USA.
John S Vogel
Affiliation:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550, USA.
Jonathan Modrow
Affiliation:
Department of Nutrition, University of California, Davis, California 95616, USA.
Andrew J Clifford*
Affiliation:
Department of Nutrition, University of California, Davis, California 95616, USA.
*
Corresponding author. Email: ajclifford@ucdavis.edu.
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Isotope tracer studies, particularly radiocarbon measurements, play a key role in biological, nutritional, and environmental research. Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) is now the most sensitive detection method for 14C, but AMS is not widely used in kinetic studies of humans. Part of the reason is the expense, but costs would decrease if AMS were used more widely. One component in the cost is sample preparation for AMS. Biological and environmental samples are commonly reduced to graphite before they are analyzed by AMS. Improvements and mechanization of this multistep procedure is slowed by a lack of organized educational materials for AMS sample preparation that would allow new investigators to work with the technique without a substantial outlay of time and effort. We present a detailed sample preparation protocol for graphitizing biological samples for AMS and include examples of nutrition studies that have used this procedure.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

References

Buchholz, BA, Arjoumand, A, Dueker, SR, Clifford, AJ, Vogel, JS. 1999a. Intrinsic erythrocyte labeling and attomole pharmacokinetic tracing of 14C-folic acid with accelerator mass spectrometry. Analytical Biochemistry 269:348–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buchholz, BA, Fultz, E, Haack, KW, Vogel, JS, Gilman, SD, Gee, SJ, Hammock, BD, Hui, X, Wester, RG, Maibach, HI. 1999b. HPLC-accelerator MS measurement of atrazine metabolites in human urine after dermal exposure. Analytical Chemistry 71(16):3519–25.Google Scholar
Buchholz, BA, Freeman, SP, Haack, KW, Vogel, JS. 2000. Tips and traps in the C-14 bio-AMS preparation laboratory. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 172(1–4):404–8.Google Scholar
Buckman, SJ, Clark, CW. 1994. Atomic negative ion resonances. Reviews of Modern Physics 66:539–55.Google Scholar
Dueker, SR, Lin, Y, Buchholz, BA, Schneider, PD, Lame, MW, Segall, HJ, Vogel, JS, Clifford, AJ. 2000. Long-term kinetic study of β-carotene, using accelerator mass spectrometry in an adult volunteer. Journal of Lipid Research 41:1790–800.Google Scholar
Kutschera, W. 2005. Progress in isotope analysis at ultra-trace level by AMS. International Journal of Mass Spectrometry 242:145–60.Google Scholar
Lemke, SL, Dueker, SR, Follett, JR, Lin, Y, Carkeet, C, Buchholz, BA, Vogel, JS, Clifford, AJ. 2003. Absorption and retinol equivalence of β-carotene in humans is influenced by dietary vitamin A intake. Journal of Lipid Research 44:1591–600.Google Scholar
Liberman, RG, Tannenbaum, SR, Hughey, BJ, Shefer, RE, Klinkowstein, RE, Prakash, C, Harriman, SP, Skipper, PL. 2004. An interface for direct analysis of 14C in non-volatile samples by accelerator mass spectrometry. Analytical Chemistry 76(2):328–34.Google Scholar
Lin, Y, Dueker, SR, Follett, JR, Fadel, JG, Arjomand, A, Schneider, PD, Miller, JW, Green, R, Buchholz, BA, Vogel, JS, Phair, R, Clifford, AJ. 2004. Quantitation of in vivo human folate metabolism. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 80:680–91.Google Scholar
McNichol, AP, Gagnon, AR, Jones, GA, Osborne, EA. 1992. Illumination of a black box: analysis of gas composition during graphite target preparation. Radiocarbon 34(3):321–9.Google Scholar
Ognibene, TJ, Bench, G, Vogel, JS, Peaslee, GF, Murov, S. 2003. A high-throughput method for the conversion of CO2 obtained from biomedical samples to graphite in septa-sealed vials for quantification of 14C via accelerator mass spectrometry. Analytical Chemistry 75(9):2192–6.Google Scholar
Vogel, JS. 1992. Rapid production of graphite without contamination for biomedical AMS. Radiocarbon 34(3):344–50.Google Scholar
Vogel, JS, Love, A. 2005. Quantitating isotopic molecular labels with AMS. In: Burlingame, AL, editor. Methods in Enzymology. New York: Academic Press, p 402–23.Google Scholar
Vogel, JS, Southon, JR, Nelson, DE, Brown, TA. 1984. Performance of catalytically condensed carbon for use in accelerator mass spectrometry. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 5(2):289–93.Google Scholar
Vogel, JS, Nelson, DE, Southon, JR. 1987. Background levels in an AMS system. Radiocarbon 29(2):215–22.Google Scholar