Human hair analysis in relation to similar environmental and occupational exposure

Simple and rapid method for the determination of mercury in human hair by cold vapour generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry

“…The population was uniform when considering the hair colour (black), type of hair (curly), ethnic and geographical origin, and living habits. Stainless-steel scissors were used to cut the hair samples (about 0.1 g) after washing with shampoo and drying, as reported by other authors [61,62]. The samples were stored in plastic bags with identification tags and shipped to the laboratory for further treatment and analysis.…”

A new washing procedure for inorganic element analysis of hair

“…However, considering that the washing efficiency used for our study (TNCl) is better than that of the WAWAW (or derived) method due to the acidic stages in the protocol, the results are generally close to the lowest values of the ranges in the review. However, in any case, the variations in concentrations of hair inorganics can be explained by several factors, such as sex, smoking habit, cosmetic treatment, geographical location, diverse environmental exposure, or different dietary habits [29]. Hair analysis is non-invasive, with easy-to-obtain samples, and reflects a long time or past exposure average, so hair would be a promising matrix of exposure to monitor if the problem of external contamination removal can be overcome [30].…”

Assessment of Heavy Metals on Occupationally Exposed Workers from Hair Analysis

“…The use of human hair as an bioindicator in assessing changes and abnormalities in human bodies has gained great attention in the last several decades for occupational exposure evaluation, criminal investigation, or investigation formation [2,[6][7][8][9]. Those elements, when they are deposited in hair follicle, will be sequestered in protein matrices through binding with sulfur atoms in cysteine or sulfhydryl groups in other amino acids and experienced hardening processes, keratinocytes, while the hair growth then accumulated in the hair [7][8][9][10].…”

“…The most found heavy metals that are extremely toxic even in a small amounts are lead, cadmium, chromium, mercury, and arsenic [15]. Heavy metals are dangerous because they are bioaccumulated in human body organs such as liver, lung, kidney, or bone, which impact human health [2,15]. It is known that heavy metal exposure can occur from industrial effluents, environmental contamination, occupational exposure, volcanic gasses, and emissions by coal-fired power plants or industries.…”