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Research on osteoporosis, a condition of weak bone, can employ the long-lived radioactive isotope of calcium to identify changes in bone metabolism. IRMM has produced a 41Ca enriched dose material for such studies. It has been applied in a tracer study involving skeleton labelling of postmenopausal women over 8-12 months by oral administration of a single dose of 41 Ca.
To link the calcium isotope ratio measurements by different laboratories conducting the study, and techniques to each other, a series of certified reference materials has been produced at IRMM. This series allows a check of instrument linearity over the range of calcium isotope ratios which can be expected in urine within several years after administration of a typical oral 41 Ca dose.
| Hennessy, C., Berglund, M., Ostermann, M., Walczyk, T., Synal, H., Geppert, C., Wendt, K., Taylor, P., Certification of a 41Ca dose material for use in human studies (IRMM-3703) and a corresponding set of isotope reference materials for 41Ca measurements (IRMM-3701), Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 229 (2005) 281-292 |