Determination of traces of As, Cd, Cr, Hg, Mn, Ni, Sb, Se, Sn and Pb in human hair by triple quadrupole ICP-MS

Abstract

ABSTRACTWith the wide range of metallic contaminants discharged in the environment, studying the human health requires a growing number of elements to be monitored in biological samples. Hair analysis has been suggested as a suitable tool for biomonitoring environmental and occupational exposure to toxic elements. This study describes a method for the determination of 10 trace elements in hair samples using ICP-QQQ-MS. Combining the power of the MS/MS high-energy Helium mode with the MS/MS O2 mass-shift mode, the method offers great analytical performances with detection limits reaching 0.0014 µg g−1 for As, 0.0016 µg g−1 for Cd, 0.012 µg g−1 for Cr, 0.0035 µg g−1 for Hg, 0.0055 µg g−1 for Mn, 0.10 µg g−1 for Ni, 0.0012 µg g−1 for Sb, 0.0083 µg g−1 for Sn, 0.011 µg g−1 for Se and Pb. The accuracy of the method was tested on a human hair ERM® certified reference material. Percent recoveries varied from 91.3% and 106.9% being always in the acceptance range of 90–110%. For all analysed elements, RSD% of repeatability ranged between 0.6% and 9.0% and those of intermediate precision did not exceed the limit of 20% being always lower than 10% (except for As). The proposed method was applied for the determination of trace elements in hair samples from 20 unexposed subjects. The geometric mean levels were as follows: Cr 0.28 µg g−1, Mn 0.30 µg g−1, Sn 1.04µg g−1, Sb 0.07 µg g−1, Hg 0.42 µg g−1, As 0.02 µg g−1, Cd 0.03 µg g−1, Ni 0.51 µg g−1, Se 0.45 µg g−1 and Pb 1.83 µg g−1. Element concentrations were in the same range with the reported data. The reported results may be useful for environmental exposure assessment or comparisons studies when establishing reference values of trace elements in exposed population.