Multielement analysis of micro-volume biological samples by ICP-MS with highly efficient sample introduction system

A method for multielement analysis of micro-volume biological sample by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) with a highly efficient sample introduction system was presented. The sample introduction system was the combination of (1) an inert loop injection unit and (2) a high performance concentric nebulizer (HPCN) coupled with a temperature controllable cyclone chamber. The loop injection unit could introduce 20 μL samples into the carrier liquid flow of 10 μL min−1 producing a stable signal for 100 s without any dilution. The injection loop is continuously washed with 0.1 M HNO3 carrier solution during the measurement, thereby much improving sample throughput. The HPCN is a triple tube concentric nebulizer, which can generate fine aerosols and provide a stable and highly measurement sensitivity in ICP-MS at a liquid flow rate less than 10 μL min−1. With the combination of the chamber heating at 60 °C, the sensitivity obtained with the proposed sample introduction system at the liquid flow rate of 10 μL min−1 was almost the same as that with a common concentric nebulizer and cyclone chamber system at the liquid flow rate of 1 mL min−1, though the sample consumption rate of the HPCN was two orders of the magnitude lower than that of the common nebulizer. The validation of the proposed system was performed by analyzing the NIST SRM 1577b Bovine Liver. The observed values for 12 elements such as Na, P, S, K, Ca, Mn, Fe, Co, Cu, Zn, Mo, Cd were in good agreement with their certified values and information value. Satisfactory analytical results for 14 elements such as Na, Mg, P, S, K, Ca, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Y, Ba in Escherichia coli sample were also obtained. The proposed sample introduction system was quite effective in the cases when only micro-volume of biological sample is available.