Multi-Element Analysis of Some Toxic Metals in Urine using Quadrupole ICP-MS

Abstract

Occupational and environmental metal contamination is a global concern due to the occurrence of long term health effects in many organ systems. Deficiency or excess of essential metals, depending on personal and/or population nutritional status are also a big public health concern, requiring regular evaluation for early diagnosis and eventual therapeutic intervention. The objective of this study was to validate an easy and rapid analytical method using ICP-MS for the determination of 17 metals (As, Sb-semimetals; Be, Cd, Li, Pb, Pd, Pt, Rh, Sr, Tl, Mn-metals; Mo, Ni, Cr, Cu, Se-essential metals 1) of toxicological interest. The studied working range demonstrated evidence of linearity and the proposed method proved to be accurate, with good repeatability and intermediate precision. Obtained Limit of Detection (LOD) for the studied analytes were lower or equal to those obtained by CDC in urine.