Analytical Performance and Validation of a Reliable Method Based on Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometry for the Determination of Gold Nanoparticles in Biological Tissues

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have a wide-ranging application and are widespread in samples with complex matrices; thus, efficient analytical procedures are necessary to identify and characterize this analyte. A sensitive analytical method for determination of AuNPs content in biological tissues, based on microwave-assisted acid wet digestion and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS) validated in accordance with the requirements of Eurachem guideline and ISO 17025 standard, is presented in this study. The digestion procedure was optimized, and the figures of merit such as selectivity, limit of detection (0.43 µg L−1), limit of quantification (1.29 µg L−1, corresponding to 12.9 µg kg−1 in tissue sample, considering the digestion), working range, linearity, repeatability ((RSDr 4.15%), intermediate precision (RSDR 8.07%), recovery in accuracy study (97%), were methodically evaluated. The measurement uncertainty was assessed considering the main sources of uncertainties and the calculated relative expanded uncertainty (k = 2) was 12.5%. The method was applied for the determination of AuNPs in six biological tissues (liver, small intestine, heart, lungs, brain and kidneys) and the found concentrations were generally at low levels, close or lower than LOQ.