Abstract
Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is an extensively studied radiotherapeutic strategy for cancer treatment. BNCT is based on irradiation of malignant tumour cells with neutrons after uptake of a 10B containing molecule. Alpha particles, locally produced by neutron irradiation kill the cancer cells. Important for ongoing research regarding cellular uptake and cytotoxicity of a large variety of 10B containing molecules is the accurate determination of boron concentrations in cell cultures. In this work, the sample preparation for quantitative inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) analysis on cell cultures was optimized. By making use of acid digestion combined with UV digestion, low detection limits (0.4 μg L-1) and full recoveries of boron could be achieved while measurements were free of spectral and non-spectral interferences. Finally, cell-associated boron in the form of 4-borono-l-phenylalanine (l-BPA) in vascular endothelial cell cultures could be determined with ICP-MS as (1.26 ± 0.10) × 109 boron atoms per cell. The developed method can prove its importance for further BNCT research and elemental analysis of cell cultures.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 598-606 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry |
Volume | 36 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Mar 2021 |