Speciation of chromium in plasma and liver tissue of endstage renal failure patients on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis.

This work is a first attempt to determine the speciation of Cr in human plasma. With the aid of in vitro and in vivo 51Cr-labeled experiments, it was possible to develop the necessary biochemical techniques for the separation of the plasma proteins. Further work will use real samples, taking care to avoid contamination of the various fractions and to preserve the original binding of the Cr to the specific plasma compounds. In a first attempt on the distribution of Cr over the different organelles of liver tissue, work will be restricted to in vivo labeled experiments with rats. The procedure to do the speciation work seems so elaborate that it may be impossible ever to achieve the contemplated speciation of Cr in human liver tissue by subcellular fractionation.