Quantification of the uranium concentration in human urine by inductively coupled plasma-sector field mass spectrometry (ICP-SFMS)

Abstract

Recebido em 23/5/12; aceito em 19/12/12; publicado na web em 24/5/13In this study, the validation of a method for analyzing the uranium (U) concentration in human urine samples by inductively coupled plasma-sector field mass spectrometry (ICP-SFMS) was conducted. PROCORAD (the Association for the Promotion of Quality Control in Radiotoxicological Analysis) provided two urine samples spiked with unknown contents of U (Sample A = 33.6 ± 1.0 μg/L and Sample B = 3.3 ± 0.1 μg/L) and one unspiked sample as a blank. The analyses were directly performed on the diluted urine samples (dilution factor = 1:20) in 5% v/v HNO 3 . The results obtained by ICP-SFMS corresponded well with the reference values, and the limits of detection were 235 U = 0.049 × 10 −3 μg/L and 238 U = 7.37 × 10 −3 μg/L. The ICP-SFMS technique has been shown to be successful in the analysis of the U concentration in human urine samples and for the quantification of isotopic ratios.

Measurements of uranium in urine samples of uranium workers and inhabitants of nearby settlements in Akmola Region, Kazakhstan

“…A possible cause of excessive uranium content in the urine of workers is continued work on worn-out equipment. In addition, the pathway of aerosol exposure is crucial for hazard assessment when inhaled exposure to relatively insoluble uranium oxide particles (repeated extraction of U 3 O 8 involves the main technological processes at the plant) is a potentially long-term reservoir of internal alpha decay activity that can lead to cell damage [8,9]. Also, uranium is nephrotoxic and necessary to consider creatinine-correction before analyzing the determination of the concentration of uranium in urine.…”