Proton-excited X-ray analysis on whole blood using a small accelerator

A 200 kV positive-ion accelerator was successfully used to quantitatively determine the potassium and iron abundances in a sample of human whole blood. The results of the analysis compare well with the findings of other workers using different techniques. The internal standard method of doping separate batches of the liquid blood sample with increasing amounts of a potassium solution, and other batches with increasing concentrations of an iron solution, and measuring the intensities of the characteristic X-rays excited by protons from the samples after they were lyophilized was the procedure employed. The resulting concentration curves for each element were least-squares fitted by a polynomial and the normal abundances of potassium and iron were derived from the slope of the fitted concentration curve at zero doping level. Matrix effects were in evidence in each analysis, but this proved to be no hindrance to the analysis.