DEVELOPMENT OF AL-26 ACCELERATOR MASS-SPECTROMETRY FOR ALUMINUM ABSORPTION EXPERIMENTS IN HUMANS

We have used the 20 MV tandem Van de Graaff accelerator at the Daresbury Laboratory to conduct accelerator mass spectrometrY (AMS) on Al-26. The AMS technique has been applied in two studies in which Al-26 has been administered to human subjects. The Al-26 detection limit is ca. 3.8 x 10(-18) g and the limiting Al-26:Al-27 ratio ca. 7.4 x 10(-14). Calibration is linear over at least five orders of magnitude. A value for the gastrointestinal uptake of aluminium has been estimated (ca. 1%) and the characteristics of the renal excretion of aluminium over a 106 day period have been established.