US EPA

3792660 

Journal Article 

The determination of mercury in whole blood and urine by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry 

Nixon, DE; Burritt, MF; Moyer, TP 

1999 

1 

Spectrochimica Acta Part B: Atomic Spectroscopy
ISSN: 0584-8547 

BIOSIS/99/23032 

54 

8 

1141-1153 

English 

10.1016/S0584-8547(99)00057-9 

WOS:000082048700002 

BIOSIS COPYRIGHT: BIOL ABS. An inductively coupled mass spectrometric (ICP-MS) method for the determination of mercury in whole blood and urine was developed. Gold and dichromate in hydrochloric acid were evaluated as agents to reduce mercury spray chamber memory. Dichromate with hydrochloric acid was found to be superior to gold. We evaluated the rapid introduction of sample to promote equilibrium and the rapid introduction of wash solutions after the sample analyses to minimize mercury memory. This 'fast pump' mode (2.5e analyzed by ICP-MS and cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry (CVAAS). Regressions and correlations for patient samples were: urines: y = 0.93x + 1; r = 0.8763; n = 456 and whole blood: y = 1.1x + 0.2; r = 0.9357; n = 251. ICP-MS correlation with CVAAS for 29 urine samples containing 15-150 mug Hg/specimen was: y = 0.94x + 4; r = 0.9864. 

Hg; inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry; cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry; urine; whole blood