This environmental certified reference material (CRM) was developed for use in calibrating and managing the precision of analytical equipment used for the chemical analysis of microcystins contained in blue-green algae, and for the analysis of the elemental composition of the algae. The target chemical substances are the microcystins and the constituent inorganic elements found in Microcystis aeruginosa, the main cyanobacterium involved in the formation of blue-green algal blooms in freshwater.
The starting material for this CRM was a mixture of two strains of the cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa that were isolated from natural water blooms. The strains were separately cultured at the algae culture management facility within the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), then freeze-dried. The mixed dry alga (ca. 40 g), powdered by sieving through a 63-μm screen, was packed into brown glass bottles (636 bottles) with individual sample sizes of 54 mg. After vacuum drying the bottles were filled with an inert gas (argon), capped, and sealed in aluminum packs containing desiccants.
keywords: Biological material, Plant material, trace elements , heavy metals |
