DETERMINATION of the TRACE ELEMENT LEVELS in HAIR of SMOKERS and NON-SMOKERS by ICP-MS

Abstract

For at least 50 years, determination of the trace element levels in human hair has been used to assess environmental and vocational exposure to toxic elements. As compared to other biological matrices (e.g. blood, urine), human hair is stable and therefore useful as a matrix. In this study, analyses of toxic and essential trace elements, such as Cd, Pb, Cu, and Fe were done in hair samples which we collected from male smokers (10 people) and non-smokers (10 people) who live in Diyarbakır, Turkey and concentrations in hair samples were compared. Hair samples were washed by a standard procedure proposed by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Then the samples were dried for 16 h at 110°C in an oven. Solubilization procedure was carried out by nitric acid-hydrogen peroxide mixture (3:1) in closed vessels in a microwave oven. Trace element analyses were carried out by using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) technique. In this study, while concentrations of Cd, Pb, and Fe elements were found to be considerably higher in smokers than non-smokers, similar results were observed in Cu concentrations. The accuracy of the method was evaluated by applying spike method to samples. There was a good agreement between added and found analyte content. Analytical recovery values were determined between 91.2% and 104.6%. The values of R were found to be higher than 0.99.

The Concentration of the Potentially Toxic Metals in Human Hair, Nails, Urine, Blood, and Air, and Their Impact on Human Health: A Review

“…; , during their studies, found that the concentration of metals Cr, Cu, Ni, Co, Cd, Zn, and As in the hair increases with age. The concentration of these metals in the hairs of smokers was higher than that of non-smokers He et al, 2016); Oral (2016) found that the concentration of Pb in the hairs of smokers was 2.5 times that of non-smokers. The accumulation of these metals in the hairs of cigarette smokers was higher than that of pipe smokers (Alrobaian & Arida, 2019).…”