Determination of some levels of glucose and some minerals during treatment with injectable contraceptives

ABSTRACT

Serum sodium [Na], potassium [K], total calcium, iron and glucose levels, during two monthly injections of levonorgestrel [L-Nog] and norethisterone enanthate [NET-EN] were determined. Ion selective electrode potentiometric method for analysis of Na and K yielded more precise results than flame photometry. The intra- and intercoefficients of variation [CV] ranged from 0.5 to 1.1%, 0.6 to 1.9%, 0.6 to 1.9% and 2.0 to 2.3% for Na and K, respectively. Modifications of ferrozine method for analysis of serum iron were introduced. The modified method correlated well with reference bathophen-anthroline method, correlation coefficient [r] was 0.95. Precision was acceptable, intra- and inter CV ranged from 2.1 to 3.4% and 2.6 to 3.9%, respectively. Linearity was kept up to 2500 mug/dl, recovery was 98.8% +/- 1.4 and sensitivity was 20 mug/dl. The only significant change in the studied serum minerals and glucose levels was an increase in iron level, which was beneficial. The modified ferrozine method proved to be an accurate and reliable method for serum iron analysis: