Original Article   OPEN ACCESS

Evaluation of lithium determination in three analyzers: flame emission, flame atomic absorption spectroscopy and ion selective electrode

1Department of Biochemistry, National Reference Laboratory, Ministry of Health and Medical Education of Iran.

2Department of Statistics, Iran University of Medical School, Tehran, Iran. 

Citation: Aliasgharpour M, Hagani H. Evaluation of lithium determination in three analyzers: flame emission, flame atomic absorption spectroscopy and ion selective electrode. North Am J Med Sci 2009; 1: 244-246.    
Doi: 10.4297/najms.2009.5244
Availability: www.najms.org
ISSN: 1947 – 2714

Abstract
Background: Lithium carbonate salt has become an increasingly important substance in the treatment of manic depressive disorders, and its narrow safe therapeutic dose range has caused laboratories to monitor the serum concentration carefully. In the present work we compared the efficiency of three analyzers in lithium measurement. Aims: The present work was to compare the efficiency of flame emission (FES), flame atomic absorption spectroscopy (FAAS) and ion selective electrode (ISE) in lithium measurement. Materials and Methods: The three different analyzers were used. The samples assayed were Seronorm-Trace elements serum as quality control material and patients’ serum. All chemicals had a grade suitable for trace metal analysis. Results: The percent recovery of added lithium in pooled patients’ serum was higher for ISE than for FASS and FES. We also obtained a higher average lithium concentration for patients’ serum samples measured by ISE than for FAAS and FES. Paired t-test results revealed a significant difference (p< 0.001) for patient sera analyzed with FAAS and ISE. Conclusion: We report higher results for ISE than the other two analyzersandconclude that the choice between the two flame methods for patients’ serum lithium determination is arbitrary, and that FES analyzer is a more attractive routine alternative for lithium determination than FAAS because of its cost and ease of performance. In addition, the results obtained by ISE are precise. However, its accuracy may depend on other interfering factors.        

Keywords: Lithium, Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy, Ion Selective Electrodes, Flame Photometry.

Correspondence to: Mehri Aliasgharpour (MS-ASCP), Department of Biochemistry, National Reference Laboratory, Ministry of Health and Medical Education of Iran, Tehran, Iran. Tel.: (+98) 218889 2070. Email: mehri9@ yahoo.com