Potentiometric analysis for sodium and potassium in biological fluids.

Results obtained with a potentiometric analyzer, NOVA 1, specific for sodium and potassium, were compared with those by flame photometry. Both instruments showed linearity within a physiological range of sodium and potassium concentrations and had similar precisions. Volume displacements from addition of albumin or Intralipid to aqueous samples yielded the predicted lower flame-photometric results because of the relative decrease in sample water. There may be a small interaction between sodium and albumin. Physiological measurements on plasma from uremic patients showed no change after dialysis that could be ascribed to a decrease in interaction of these ions with creatinine and urea. Potentiometric values for sodium and potassium did not differ significantly, whether measured in cerebrospinal fluid or in the corresponding plasma. Results for urine were the same potentiometrically and by flame photometry.