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Updated: Aug 12, 2026

Workflow Based on the Combination of Isotopic Tracer Experiments to Investigate Microbial Metabolism of Multiple Nutrient Sources
Published on: January 22, 2018
Applied gas chromatography coupled to isotope ratio mass spectrometry
1Department of Anatomy and Physiology, University of Dundee, Scotland, UK. w.meieraugenstein@dundee.ac.uk
Abstract:
Compound-specific isotope analysis (CSIA) by isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) following on-line combustion (C) of compounds separated by gas chromatography (GC) is a relatively young analytical method. Due to its ability to measure isotope distribution at natural abundance level with great accuracy and high precision, GC-C-IRMS has increasingly become the method of choice in authenticity control of foodstuffs and determination of origin in archaeology, geochemistry, and environmental chemistry. In combination with stable isotope labelled compounds, GC-C-IRMS is also used more and more in biochemical and biomedical application as it offers a reliable and risk-free alternative to the use of radioactive tracers. The literature on these topics is reviewed from the advent of commercial GC-C-IRMS systems in 1990 up to the beginning of 1998. Demands on sample preparation and quality of GC separation for GC-C-IRMS are discussed also.
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