Quantifying Zinc Contamination in Laboratory Syringes

The zinc contamination of zinc-catalyzed rubber-containing syringes was quantified to emphasize the importance of understanding sources of contamination in laboratory settings. In doing so, specific factors that influence zinc contamination in laboratory syringes were identified. The effect of syringe type, time, the type of solution and its concentration, and indirectly, pH was examined. Two syringe types were tested: Covidien and BD. Three time durations were examined: 0 days, 1 day, and 14 days. Three challenge solution types were tested: sucrose, tartaric acid, and saline. Three challenge solution concentrations were studied: 0.1 g/L, 1.0 g/L, and 10.0 g/L. pH values ranging from 2.13 to 7.00 were examined. The zinc concentration extracted from the syringes increased as pH decreased, increased as time increased, and when the solution was contained in a BD syringe. The maximum concentration of zinc extracted from a syringe was 308 ppb