Leave the bees alone
-----Original Message-----
From: Dom Adair [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 23 September 1998 15:33
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Analysis of microlitre volumes of DLW
Hi.
I'm a PhD student in the Zoology Department at Cambridge
researching
energy expenditure in bees. I use doubly-labelled water to
calculate
energy turnover and thus generate microlitre volumes (typically
in 5
microlitre aliquots) of labelled body water. I have a small
vacuum rig for
freeze drying the bees but it's not really adequate to use for
further
reduction of the DLW samples as preparation for IRMS analysis.
Does anyone know of a laboratory that might be able to analyse
my
samples? They total about 100 bees (about 400 aliquots of DLW)
and the
isotope concentration is likely to be high (initial
concentrations
estimated to range from about 300 - 700 ppm (some samples) and
others less (turned over). There are also some samples with a
very high
concentration (10% APE with various amounts of fractionation).
I was hoping that they could be analysed using continous-flow
pyrolysis
IRMS as this would dispense with the need for separate reduction
and hopefully
cope with the small volumes. Does anyone out there do this? Or
know of a
good alternative that would suit my needs?
Any help much appreciated.
Cheers,
Dom Adair.
Insect Flight Group,
Department of Zoology,
Downing Street,
Cambridge CB2 3EJ
Tel. 01223 334478