Applications of plasma emission spectroscopy Biomedical and environmental

APPLICATIONS OF PLASMA EMISSION SPECTROSCOPY BIOMEDICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL 

Trace element research in the biomedical field is mainly focussed on the known essential trace elements Co, Cr, Cu, F, Fe, J, Mn, Mo, Ni, Co, Si, Sr, V and Zn. For investigations on more toxicological aspects or for questions of the interactions with other trace elements in the organism or in general for questions of the environmental load, the known heavy metals such as Cd, Hg, Pb, Tl etc. are of interest. In the field of occupational health, all elements which occur in the workplace can be of interest. 

It is not possible to discuss here all special cases and problems. Therefore, the following statements are restricted to some important body-fluids and organs and applying plasma emission spectroscopy. In general, the normal concentrations of the heavy metals in these samples can not be determined by plasma emission spectroscopy due to very low concentrations which are in most cases far below the limits of determination (exception sometimes liver and kidney for Pb and/or Cd). 

Whole Blood has in practice no significance for diagnosis and for therapeutic monitoring using the trace element status. Exceptions are trace elements which have a special bounding to the erythrocytes, e.g. Cd and Pb, but the concentrations present are too low for ICP-AES. Besides, in most cases a mineralization or digestion of the whole blood sample is necessary, because it is not possible to introduce it into a normal pneumatic nebulizer. 

Milk (cow and human breast milk) plays an important role in nutrition, especially for infant food. All essential trace and mineral elements are under investigation. The analysis of the mineral elements Ca, K, Mg, Na and P presents no difficulties. Of the essential elements only Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn are detectable. Using a hydride generation system, one can also determine Se. A mineralization step is mostly necessary. An exception would be in applying an ultrasonic nebulizer, but further developments on it are necessary for routine applications (Table 3,4) (Schramel, 1979). 

---