Lead In Urine Samples Research Articles

Lead Quantification in Urine Samples of Athletes by Coupling DLLME with UV-Vis Spectrophotometry.

Urine lead level is one of the most employed measures of lead exposure and risk. The urine samples used in this study were obtained from ten healthy male cyclists. Dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction combined with ultraviolet and visible spectrophotometry was utilized for preconcentration, extraction, and determination of lead in urine samples. Optimization of the independent variables was carried out based on chemometric methods in three steps. According to the screening and optimization study, 133μL of CCl4 (extracting solvent), 1.34mL ethanol (dispersing solvent), pH 2.0, 0.00% of salt, and 0.1% O,O-diethyl dithiophosphoric (chelating agent) were used as the optimum independent variables for microextraction and determination of lead. Under the optimized conditions, R 2 was 0.9991, and linearity range was 0.01-100μgL-1. Precision was evaluated in terms of repeatability and intermediate precision, with relative standard deviations being <9.1 and <15.3%, respectively. The accuracy was estimated using urine samples of cyclists as real samples and it was confirmed. The relative error of ≤5% was considered significant in the method specificity study. The lead concentration mean for the cyclists was 3.79μgL-1 in urine samples. As a result, the proposed method is a robust technique to quantify lead concentrations higher than 11.6ngL-1 in urine samples.

Automatic On-line Solid-phase Extraction-Electrothermal Atomic Absorption Spectrometry Exploiting Sequential Injection Analysis for Trace Vanadium, Cadmium and Lead Determination in Human Urine Samples.

A fully automated sequential injection column preconcentration method for the on-line determination of trace vanadium, cadmium and lead in urine samples was successfully developed, utilizing electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS). Polyamino-polycarboxylic acid chelating resin (Nobias chelate PA-1) packed into a handmade minicolumn was used as a sorbent material. Effective on-line retention of chelate complexes of analytes was achieved at pH 6.0, while the highest elution effectiveness was observed with 1.0 mol L(-1) HNO3 in the reverse phase. Several analytical parameters, like the sample acidity, concentration and volume of the eluent as well as the loading/elution flow rates, have been studied, regarding the efficiency of the method, providing appropriate conditions for the analysis of real samples. For a 4.5 mL sample volume, the sampling frequency was 27 h(-1). The detection limits were found to be 3.0, 0.06 and 2.0 ng L(-1) for V(V), Cd(II) and Pb(II), respectively, with the relative standard deviations ranging between 1.9 - 3.7%. The accuracy of the proposed method was evaluated by analyzing a certified reference material (Seronorm(TM) trace elements urine) and spiked urine samples.

Determination of cadmium and lead in urine samples after dispersive solid–liquid extraction on multiwalled carbon nanotubes by slurry sampling electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

A new method for the determination of Cd and Pb in urine samples has been developed. The method involves dispersive solid-phase extraction (DSPE), slurry sampling (SS), and subsequent electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS). Oxidized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were used as the sorbent material. The isolated MWCNT/analyte aggregates were treated with nitric acid to form a slurry and both metals were determined directly by injecting the slurry into the ETAAS-atomizer. The parameters that influence the adsorption of the metals on MWCNTs in the DSPE process, the formation and extraction of the slurry, and the ETAAS conditions were studied by different factorial design strategies. The detection and quantification limits obtained for Cd under optimized conditions were 9.7 and 32.3ngL−1, respectively, and for Pb these limits were 0.13 and 0.43μgL−1. The preconcentration factors achieved were 3.9 and 5.4. The RSD values (n=10) were less than 4.1% and 5.9% for Cd and Pb, respectively. The accuracy of the method was assessed in recovery studies, with values in the range 96–102% obtained for Cd and 97–101% for Pb. In addition, the analysis of certified reference materials gave consistent results. The DSPE–SS–ETAAS method is a novel and useful strategy for the determination of Pb and Cd at low levels in human urine samples. The method is sensitive, fast, and free of matrix interferences, and it avoids the tedious and time-consuming on-column adsorption and elution steps associated with commonly used SPE procedures. The proposed method was used to determine Cd and Pb in urine samples of unexposed healthy people and satisfactory results were obtained.

Multiwalled carbon nanotubes as a sorbent material for the solid phase extraction of lead from urine and subsequent determination by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

The determination of lead in urine is a way of monitoring the chemical exposure to this metal. In the present paper, a new method for the Pb determination by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS) in urine at low levels has been developed. Lead was separated from the undesirable urine matrix by means of a solid phase extraction (SPE) procedure. Oxidized multiwalled carbon nanotubes have been used as a sorbent material. Lead from urine was retained at pH4.0 and was quantitatively eluted using a 0.7M nitric acid solution and was subsequently measured by ETAAS. The effects of parameters that influence the adsorption–elution process (such as pH, eluent volume and concentration, sampling and elution flow rates) and the atomic spectrometry conditions have been studied by means of different factorial design strategies. Under the optimized conditions, the detection and quantification limits obtained were 0.08 and 0.26μgPbL−1, respectively. The results demonstrate the absence of a urine matrix effect and this is the consequence of the SPE process carried out. Therefore, the developed method is useful for the analysis of Pb at low levels in real samples without the influence of other urine components. The proposed method was applied to the determination of lead in urine samples of unexposed healthy people and satisfactory results were obtained (in the range 3.64–22.9μgPbL−1).

Electrochemical Generation of Lead Volatile Species as a Method of Sample Introduction for Lead Determination by Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

AbstractAn electrochemical lead volatile species generation system, as a means for sample introduction into a flame atomic absorption spectrometer, has been developed and evaluated for the determination of lead in urine samples. The reaction cell, designed and manufactured in our laboratory, consists of a reaction compartment housing a reticulated glassy carbon cathode and a platinum wire anode. The cell can easily be coupled to the spectrometer via a gas‐liquid separator. The characteristic of the cathode material, the volatile species generation efficiency and the possible interferences of some concomitants have been studied. Calculated detection limit based on the variability of a blank solution (3 sb criterion) for ten measurements was 11 µg L−1 and the sensitivity determined from the slope of the calibration graph, was 0.152 L mg−1. The reproducibility (RSD) for ten replicate measurements at 1.0 mg L−1 lead level, was 1.4 %. The accuracy of the method was determined through the analysis of spike urine samples. Recovery of 103.71 %±0.05 was achieved.

Enzyme-immunoassay for the determination of metallothionein in human urine: application to environmental monitoring

The objectives of this study were to develop an enzyme immunoassay for metallothioneins in human urine using a polyclonal antiserum and to demonstrate a possible relationship between the level of this biomarker and heavy metal exposure. The antiserum was raised in sheep against horse metallothionein conjugated to carboxylated bovine serum albumin. The antibody was used to construct a two-step competitive ELISA procedure. Human urine was treated with activated charcoal powder to remove traces of metallothioneins and known amounts of pure metallothioneins were added to provide standards for a standard curve. Metallothionein levels were measured in two groups of children living in areas of mild and high environmental pollution due mainly to heavy metals. A comparison was made between the biomarker levels and the levels of cadmium and lead in urine samples in the two groups. A group of children from a non-polluted area acted as controls. The results show that the detected levels of metallothioneins appear to correspond to levels of the two heavy metals studied and that there was an apparent relationship to the environmental exposure. Thus according to results of this study the increase in the metallothionein excretion seems to provide an indication of previous of exposure to metals. The ELISA procedure is sensitive and robust and can be used to screen large numbers of samples and is more rapid than the physical procedures currently used for analysis of these proteins. The assay can therefore be used as an additional tool for screening at-risk populations where either environmental or occupational exposure to divalent heavy metals is suspected.