The inductively coupled plasma is a promising excitation source for the simultaneous multielement determination of trace (nanogram per milliliter) elements in biological fluids. As little as 25 µl of sample fluid (whole blood, serum, or plasma) has been used, with essentially no sample preparation. This technique offers significant advantages over other methods requiring considerable sample handling that may greatly increase the danger of contamination or loss of trace constituents. The precision of the method is typically ±3 to 5%. Because this is an emission spectroscopic technique, a multichannel direct-reading spectrometer allows simultaneous multielement analyses to be made on microliter samples.

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