Evaluation of Aluminum Concentration in Albumin Products Prepared by Blood Fractionation

Human Serum albumin as well as other biological products prepared by blood fractionation for clinical purposes, was found to contain different amount of aluminum in different commercially available human albumin solutions. It has been reported that interaction of chemicals with the container material can occur during plasma collection, manufacture and storage, so aluminum is introduced into albumin products. Albumin solution is produced by Cohn fractionation. These solutions were analyzed and albumin content was measured by atomic absorption spectrometry, using electrothermal atomizer (Graphite Furnace) and the aluminum concentration in final products and in-process fractions in 21 batch of albumin 20% and 8 batch of albumin 5% were investigated. Also the content of aluminum was determined after 3 months storage in glass container. We found that the aluminum content in all investigated containers had remarkably reduced during the fractionation process. Only in one stage the aluminum content has been increased, and it is probably due to the filters and other chemicals which are used to adjust pH and elec-trolyte concentration. On the other hand concentration may have an important role in increasing alumi-num content in this stage. Aluminum overload may result in development of some diseases, so indicating the need to monitor aluminum level in the albumin to avoid the potential hazard.