Determination of aluminum concentrations of parenteral nutrition solutions by HPLC

Aluminum (Al) contamination of parenteral nutrition (PN) solutions has been known for over 30 years. In particular, vascular intake of Al leads to its accumulation in tissues. In this study, 8 all-in-one PN solutions the aluminum concentration was analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography. The mean Al concentration of the glucose solutions of the PN solutions combinations was 16.36 +/- 8.31 mu g/L, the mean Al concentration of the amino acid solutions was 4.96 +/- 3.73 mu g/L, and the mean Al concentration of the lipid solutions was 9.09 +/- 11.23 mu g/L. The Al concentration of the PN(5)glucose and PN(2)lipid solutions were above 25 mu g/L, which is the limit set by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). No studies in the literature have examined the Al concentrations of all-in-one PN solutions via HPLC. In two of the analyzed solutions, the Al concentration was found to be higher than the limit set by the FDA.