Evaluation of blood and synthetic matrix-matched calibrations using manual and inline sample preparation methods

Abstract

Biomonitoring and clinical testing are important for improving human health. These tests help public health officials or medical doctors monitor the levels of essential elements and assess exposure to toxic or potentially toxic elements within the human body. While a great deal of work has been published on biomonitoring and clinical analyses, the majority of the work has been performed with manual sample preparation. This work will explore the use of two different automation platforms for clinical analyses, one for high-throughput sampling of manually prepared blood samples and the second an inline whole blood preparation method with micro-volume sampling. The comparison and validation of these systems was carried out by analyzing 2019 New York Department of Health Proficiency Testing samples that had known reference ranges for the analytes of interest (Cd, Hg, Mn, Se, and Pb). In addition, the ICP-MS methods were calibrated using two different matrix options, purchased base blood and synthetic clinical matrix, which were compared for background levels, detection limits, and accuracy relative to the reported reference values for the New York Department of Health Proficiency Testing samples.