Assessment of Trace Elements in Scalp Hair of a Young Urban Population in Brazil

Abstract

The aim of this study was to establish background values for toxic and essential elements in hair, interelement correlations and the differences in levels between genders in a healthy young population from Southern Brazil. Hair samples (n=167) were collected from healthy students aged 12-18 years. Trace element concentrations in hair were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The study provided relatively low values for toxic elements and balanced concentrations for the essential elements in the adolescents' hair with reliable reference data. Interestingly, this study also demonstrated statistical correlations considered newfound between the elements in hair. Hair mercury levels were influenced by gender; with males presenting higher values. The overall findings of the present study, with respect to the estimated chemical elements, are of prime importance in the evaluation of reference values for determining environmental effects on children living in urban areas.

Background Values for Essential and Toxic Elements in Children’s Nails and Correlation with Hair Levels

“…Although weaker than those found in a previous study with hair samples [11], several positive correlations were found in nails (Pb vs. Cd, Co, Mn, Sb; Cd vs. Co, Se; Mn vs. Co). However, unlike hair, Mn vs.…”

“…Additionally, as this report took part of a study of background values in hair of the same young population [11], the Mann-Whitney U test was used to evaluate differences between element concentrations in nails and hair. Spearman's correlation test was also used to evaluate correlations between trace element level in nails and hair.…”

Human Exposure Pathways of Heavy Metals in a Lead-Zinc Mining Area, Jiangsu Province, China

“…Furthermore, hair sample can be a useful assessment tool in characterizing long-term exposure of the measured contaminant, whereas blood and urine often reflect most recent exposures. Hair has been used in biomonitoring of heavy metals on large cohorts in Brazil [35], determining geological source and exposure through fish consumption in Lake Victoria [36], characterizing human exposure in an abandoned mine in Portugal [32] and examining the residential exposure in an e-waste recycling area in southeastern China [31]. We focus our study on using metal content in hair as a biomonitoring indicator to identify whether differences of long-term exposure existed among residents in different villages.…”

Trace elements analysis in hair strand of cooks chronically exposed to indoor air pollution in restaurants of Lhasa, Tibet: preliminary results

“…Mean Zn concentration of cook group at Lhasa was higher than those of other areas [23,[41][42][43], probably due to high Zn exposure within kitchen (0.25 μg/m 3 , [36]). Although mean Cu concentration of the cook group was lower than those of electronic waste recycling area [28] in China, it was higher than all the other areas [23,41,43]. Therefore, High concentrations of Zn and Cu in cook hair were likely to be a valid indication of the body burden, indicating significant influence of intensive cooking activities on cooks.…”

“…So far, various biological materials have been used to measure exposure of toxic substances. Among them, human scalp hair has been widely used for research of bio-monitoring environmental and occupational exposures of heavy metals in various areas [15,[23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]. Generally, human scalp hair is less invasive, convenience to store and transport and less hazardous while handling.…”