Assessment of element concentration distribution in different rat organs by wavelength dispersive x-ray fluorescence: Effects of Aluminum chloride

Abstract

Aluminum (Al) is present on earth surface has different chemical forms. It is a toxic metal and it may cause different disorders such as osteomalacia, microcytic anemia, Alzheimer and Parkinson's disease. Thus, it is very important to understand the effects of Al on different organs. in order to examine its accumulation, rats (male Wistar) were exposed to 5 mg/kg/day AlC1(3) through gavage method for 30 days. At the end of the process, heart, brain, kidney and skin were removed and dried under sunlight. the samples were analyzed on a sequential Wavelength Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (WDXRF) spectrometer. the results indicate that Al accumulates significantly in the brain. These results can be associated with neurotoxin effects. Although this study focused on the accumulation of Al, the concentration changes of detected elements from Beryllium (Be) to Uranium (U) accumulations were analyzed. the current study has proved that the WDXRF method is a quick, inexpensive and effective method in toxicological studies.