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Practical considerations in the use of stable isotope labelled compounds as tracers in clinical studies
Author(s) -
Thompson G. N.,
Pacy P. J.,
Ford G. C.,
Halliday D.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
biomedical and environmental mass spectrometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.475
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9888
pISSN - 0887-6134
DOI - 10.1002/bms.1200180507
Subject(s) - isotope , stable isotope ratio , tracer , instrumentation (computer programming) , biochemical engineering , mass spectrometry , interpretation (philosophy) , chemistry , sampling (signal processing) , flux (metallurgy) , radiochemistry , computer science , environmental chemistry , nuclear physics , chromatography , engineering , physics , organic chemistry , filter (signal processing) , computer vision , programming language , operating system
Increasingly widespread usage of stable isotope tracers to aid clinical diagnosis and support basic research has stemmed from both advances in mass spectrometry and the availability of competitively priced labelled compounds. Stable isotopes have been used generally to investigate normal and abnormal metabolic pathways, to estimate energy expenditure and body composition and to quantitate substrate flux and oxidation rates. Despite the fact that the underlying principles relating to the use of stable isotopes for in vivo studies are straightforward, careful consideration must be given to all aspects of human studies. This review highlights some of these, including choice of label and tracer molecule, mode of tracer administration and sampling site, analytical instrumentation, interpretation of data and ethical constraints.