Title: The scalp hair as a monitor for trace elements in biomonitoring of atmospheric pollution

Authors: Sofia Zaichick, Vladimir Zaichick

Addresses: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Northwestern University, 302E. Superior St, Morton Building, Chicago, IL 60611, USA. ' Department of Radionuclide Diagnostics, Medical Radiological Research Centre of Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Koroleva Str. 4, Obninsk 249020, Kaluga Region, Russia

Abstract: The chemical element contents in scalp hair of 80 apparently healthy 15- to 58-year-old citizens (36 females and 44 males) of a non-industrial region in the Central European part of Russia were investigated by Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) and Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-AES). The summary of statistics, arithmetic mean, standard deviation, standard error of mean, minimum and maximum values, median, percentiles with 0.025 and 0.975 levels for mass fraction of 44 chemical elements: Ag, Al, As, Au, Ba, Br, Ca, Cd, Ce, Cl, Co, Cr, Cs, Cu, Eu, Fe, Gd, Hf, Hg, I, K, La, Li, Lu, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Nd, P, Pb, Rb, Sb, Sc, Se, Sm, Sr, Ta, Tb, Th, Tm, V, Yb and Zn, were determined for hair of females, males and both females and males taken together. The correlations between element contents in hair and bone are also presented.

Keywords: chemical elements; human scalp hair; age involution; gender related differences; INAA; ICP-AES; pollution monitoring; trace elements; biomonitoring; air pollution; air quality; Russia.

DOI: 10.1504/IJENVH.2011.039860

International Journal of Environment and Health, 2011 Vol.5 No.1/2, pp.106 - 124

Published online: 22 Apr 2011 *

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