Pharmacology,

Medical and Clinical Research

Isotopes are used in medical, clinical and pharma research. For example, radioactive isotopes are used in medicine for radiotherapy treatment of cancer. Also, enriched stable isotopes are commonly used as metabolic tracers. But also in pharmacology, the use of isotopes is widespread. For instance in drug pharmacology, but also in determining counterfeit pharmaceutical products.

Also the use of the non-traditional stable isotopes such as Ca, Fe, Cu and Zn has gained more and more interest to study human health and disease. For example, copper and zinc isotopes can help to track cancer progression, calcium isotopes can be used to monitor bone loss and iron isotopes have the potential to react to genetic disorders and may serve as biomarker of iron metabolism.

Elemental analysis of body fluids plays a major role in the diagnosis of a range of disorders. Apart from the essential and well-recognized toxic metals, also elements that cause acute toxicity (Ag, Bi, Sb, etc), elements used in implants (Ag, Cr, Ni, Pt, Si, Ti, Zr) as well as in pharmacology (Au, B, I, Pd, Pt, Ti, etc.), precious metals (dental alloys), rare earth elements and actinides are becoming more important.

The Thermo Scientific™ product portfolio enables stable isotope, non-traditional stable isotope and trace elemental analysis in clinical, medical and pharmaceutical samples using the Delta V™ and 253 Plus™ Gas IRMS products and the ICP-based products, the Neptune Plus™ MC-ICPMS and Element 2™ and Element XR™ High-Resolution ICPMS.

Key Applicatons

  • δ13C in Fatty Acid Methyl Esters
  • Cu and Zn Isotope Ratio Analysis to track cancer progression
  • Ca Isotopes as Proxy for Ca balance in Human Body
  • Sulphur Isotope Measurements in Human Serum
  • Trace Elemental Analysis of Implants and Dental Alloys

Products