A newly designed high-pressure wet digester and its application to trace element analysis in human body

Trace element contents in hair of residents from Harbin (China), Medan (Indonesia), and Tokushima (Japan)

The concentrations of 19 trace element in hair samples from 1273 residents of Harbin (China), Medan (Indonesia), and Tokushima (Japan) were measured by inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometry. The mean concentrations of Ba, Ca, and Se were significantly higher in the Harbin hair samples when compared to those from Medan, but Al, B, Cu, Fe, Mn, Na, Pb, Ti, Zn, and K were significantly higher in Medan than in Harbin hair samples. The differences in the mean concentrations of As, Cr, Mg, P, Sn, and Sr between the Medan and Harbin lots were not significant. In the Tokushima hair samples, Na and K were significantly higher, but As, B, Ba, Ca, Cr, Mg, Mn, Pb, Sn, Sr, and Se were significantly lower than in the Harbin hair samples. The differences in the mean concentrations of Al, Cu, Fe, P, Ti, and Zn between Harbin and Tokushima were not significant. In the Medan hair samples, Al, As, B, Ba, Ca, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Pb, Sn, Sr, Ti, and Zn were significantly higher, but P and Se were significantly lower than in Tokushima hair samples. Differences in mean concentrations of Na and K between Tokushima and Medan were not significant.

Determination of trace selenium in human body by anodic stripping voltammetry at gold-disc electrode

For determination of trace Se we used high-pressure wet digester to pretreat the specimens obtained from the human body. This method is very effective in preventing loss of Se by volatilization which often occurs in the sample pretreatment. We studied the method of using anodic stripping voltammetry at gold-disc electrode to measure the trace Se present in the human body and found it to be the optimal procedure. The detection limitation was about 2 x 10(-8) g/L, the recovery rate of Se about 96.6 +/- 6.7% (chi +/- s), and the coefficient of variation CV = 7.0%.