Microextraction Tech

Mercury is a well known toxicant with different exposure sources. Although its use on medical products is banned in many countries, other sources like environmental pollution or contaminated food still exist. Professor Bin Hu and co-workers have been recently researched how Hg species are distributed and even modified in cell cultures [1]. In their own words, this type of research is of paramount importance in order to fully understand the toxicity but also the cell protection mechanisms. The toxicological application is, in itself, interesting but the tools used in this research makes it attractive to "microextracters". This study has come up several challenges related to cell culture studies. First of all, in this field the sample volume is usually limited so miniaturized instrumental techniques are required. In addition, the inherent nature of biosamples (complex matrices and low target concentrations) further complicate the situation. Our colleagues have on-line comb...