R. Flarend, D. Elmore

Aluminum in Infant's Health and Nutrition P. Zatta and A.c. Alfrey, Eds World Scientific, Singapore, China (1997) 16-39 ISBN 981-02-2914-3

PRIME Lab Report PL9601

The metabolism of physiological amounts of aluminum has eluded scientists because of the lack of suitable tracer and because of the low levels of aluminum in the body compared to the high levels in the environment. The development of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) has provided a practical method of detection for the only isotope of aluminum suitable as a tracer, 26Al. The use of 26Al as a tracer for aluminum has facilitated the study of aluminum metabolism and pharmacokinetics of aluminum-containing drugs. We present an overview of the advantages of using 26Al as a tracer for aluminum and a general description of the AMS technique. To illustrate the versatility of 26Al as a tracer for aluminum, 26Al studies of the past six years are discussed briefly including the first study of the pharmacokinetics of an 26Al-labeled drug.