Distribution of Gold in Blood during Chrysotherapy

Abstract

SUMMARY Measurements have been made using electrophoresis and neutron activation analysis of the distribution of gold in the blood of four patients who have responded well to chrysotherapy for rheumatoid arthritis. It has been shown that in these patients there is little, if any, binding to the fibrinogen. The majority of protein-bound gold is associated with the albumin but significant amounts are bound to the other proteins. There is a small amount of gold associated with the blood cells.allowed to dry at room temperature, and then placed with the aid of forceps into polythene bags, which were sealed ready for neutron activation analysis. Electrophoresis (using equipment supplied by Shandon Southern Ltd.) was carried out using the buffer Tris 1 EDTA acid 1 boric acid (60'5 g, 6,0 g, 4·6 g per litre) at a pH of 8·6. The serum samples (10 JLI) were applied to 78 x 150 mm strips of cellulose acetate, and electrophoresis was carried out for 90 minutes across a gap of 120 mm at a constant current setting of 0·04 rnA mrrrt. The strips were air dried, immersed in Ponceau S stain (0'2 % in 3 % of trichloroacetic acid) for 30 min, and then washed with 5 % acetic acid. The strips were dried in air at room temperature, cut into sections corresponding to the prealbumin, albumin, nr-, ua-, {J-, and y-globulin regions, and the sections were then sealed in plastic bags.The samples from each patient were placed in a polythene container together with a standard containing 10-8 g of gold. The standards were made by dropping 10 JLI of a suitable solution of gold chloride onto a piece of filter paper which was sealed in a polythene envelope. Irradiation took place in the London University Research Reactor, Ascot for about seven hours at a flux of approximately 10 12 n cm-2 S-I. The samples were allowed to stand for a few days to allow interfering activities (particularly 24Na) to decay to low levels before measurements were made of the 198Au activity (half-life 2·7 days) arising from the reaction 197Au (n, y) 198Au. The measurements were made by observing the 412 KeV y-rays arising from the decay of 198Au using a well-type NaI (TI) crystal.