Use of charged particle activation as an analytical technique in the biological field

Some applications of Charged Particle Activation Analysis (CPAA) in the biological field are presented. This technique has been used frequently for the analysis of the light elements which are inaccessible to neutron activation analysis (NAA), but it is especially effective in the detection of medium-heavy trace elements and there is increasing interest in its employment in biological and medical fields. CPAA enables the identification and simultaneous quantification of different isotopes of the same element. Recent applications show that it can be used as a reference method in stable isotope determination for biokinetic studies of selected elements in complex organic matrices such as blood plasma.