Weekly and Longitudinal Element Variability in Hair Samples of Subjects Non-Occupationally Exposed

Pasquale Avino,Monica Lammardo,Andrea Petrucci,Alberto Rosada

doi:10.3390/app11031236

Abstract

Hair is an ideal tissue for tracing the human health conditions. It can be cut easily and painlessly, and the relative clinical results can give an indication of mineral status and toxic metal accumulation following long-term or even acute exposure. Different authors have found outdoor pollution phenomena, such as the levels, significantly alter metal and metalloid hair contents. This paper investigates the element concentration variability in hair samples collected from a not-exposed teenager, neither environmentally nor professionally. The sampling was carried out for one week, and the samples were collected from different locations on the scalp. A nuclear analytical methodology, i.e., the Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis, is used for determining about 30 elements. Some differences have been found among the samplings as well as between the proximal and distal sections. A deep comparison with other similar studies worldwide present in the literature has been performed for evidencing the relationships and the differences due to different ethnical origins, lifestyles, diets, and climates among the different young populations.

Highlights

During these last few decades, the human biomonitoring through biological fluids or tissues has been largely used for the assessment of health effects following an occupational or environmental exposure [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9], for the absorbed element content
There is in literature a great deal of papers regarding the determination of the elemental content in hairs [32,33,34,35], to the authors’ knowledge, no paper is focused on the element variability during a week
A few studies concern the longitudinal element distribution along human hairs: Yukawa et al [36] reported the variation of the trace element concentration in long human hairs, showing the profiles according to the distance from the scalp; Kempson and coauthors [37,38] discussed how the exogenous contamination does not influence the levels of some elements; on the contrary, Kempson and Skinner [39] report that some other elements, such as Al, are subjected to being accumulated during pollution events and such as Ca, which was demonstrated to be sensitive to endogenous and exogenous contributions [40]; Park et al discussed the longitudinal association between toenail zinc levels and the incidence of diabetes among American young adults [41]

Summary

Introduction

During these last few decades, the human biomonitoring through biological fluids (blood, urine) or tissues (hair, nails) has been largely used for the assessment of health effects following an occupational or environmental exposure [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9], for the absorbed element content. Other examples are the analysis of trace elements in the U.S population by the U.S National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) [15], in Canada [16] and in European countries [17,18,19,20,21] This topic is considered relevant both to obtain finger-print data related to a certain area [22] and, in forensic studies, to the provenance of subjects in a specific site [23,24,25,26]. It is highlighted that an important role for this concentration is played by the animals’ behavior traits, which suggests that these traits have to be considered in the study of human hair Such studies are necessary for having knowledge of endogenous and exogenous roles of hair elements

Methods

Results

Conclusion