Lead Content in Human Scalp Hair of Rural and Urban Residents in Taiwan

Metals (Hg, Pb, Cu, and Zn) Bioaccumulation in Sediment, Fish, and Human Scalp Hair: A Case Study from the City of Mersin Along the Southern Coast of Turkey

“…According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), human hair is one of the most important biological materials for worldwide environmental monitoring and the International Atomic Energy Agency uses hair to monitor global trends of element levels [36]. Hair as a biological tissue is unique in respect that it serves as an accumulator for trace elements, and in addition, it is formed in relatively short period of time and remains isolated from the metabolic events in the human body and its metal content can reflect the body status for a long period [34,37,38]. Once mercury has been accumulated into the hair, its concentration does not change significantly, whereas mercury contents in blood and urine can only reflect very recent exposures [39].…”

“…Pb has been used successfully to document population exposure to toxicity by measuring its concentrations on HSH [31,32]. Pb concentration in hair of healthy persons may be two to five times higher than that in bone, ten to 50 times higher than that of blood and 100-500 times higher than that in urine [33,34]. Hair can accumulate not only toxic metals but also essential metals such as Zn and Cu and can be taken into consideration when evaluating environmental pollution [35].…”

Assessment of the Degree of Contamination by Metal Traces Element (Cd, Zn, Cu, Pb) in the Environment of an Open Landfill of a Large CityPart One : A Human Population

“…The sealed tube is kept at room temperature for 24 hours; during this preliminary phase, the bulk of the sample is dissolved in the acid. The resulting liquid takes a yellow tint more or less dark, in hair coloring [12], and a viscous consistency. To complete the dissolution, clogged tubes are placed for 1 hour in a water bath at 60 °C [10].…”