Identification and determination of the relationship between elemental compounds of hair and fingernail by PIXE technique in Hamadan urban community, Iran

Abstract

The measurement of trace elements in nails and hairs has advantages relative to other body tissues and they have been increasingly used in forensic and clinical toxicology as a complementary test. Complementary hair and nail analysis can indicate the amount of elements in the body for long periods of time. In this study, hair and nail samples were collected from the city of Hamedan and the quantitative elemental concentration of samples was measured by PIXE technique. In hair samples of females, P had a significant difference with Cr and Ni, and a moderate difference with Co. The average amounts of Si, K, Cl, Al and Ca of hair samples in athletes were higher than normal people, in turn higher than addicted group. Ca content had a moderate difference between athlete and addicted groups. There was a weak difference between P-Ni and P-Co only for age ranges of 30-40 year. In female nail samples, P had a significant difference with Ca, Cr and Al. The existence of the meaningful difference in the Ca ratio in hair to nail samples can be used as a biomarker in forensic medicine.