The Open Analytical Chemistry Journal

2008, 2 : 55-61
Published online 2008 May 9. DOI: 10.2174/1874065000802010055
Publisher ID: TOACJ-2-55

Case Study for Selected Heavy Elements in Blood and Plasma from Six Female Patients with Systemic Sclerosis (Scleroderma, SSc). The Concentrations of Mercury, Lead, Antimony, Cobalt, Copper, and Zinc

G. Tamasi , M. Bellini , S. Lorenzini , D. Chindamo , R. Marcolongo , F. Baroni , F. Riccobono , R. Netti and R. Cini
Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Chimiche e dei Biosistemi, Università di Siena, Via Aldo Moro 2, I-53100 Siena, Italia.

ABSTRACT

Samples of total blood (1T-6T) were collected from six patients (1-6) with Systemic Sclerosis (SSc) and analyzed for their content of mercury, lead, antimony, cobalt, copper, and zinc through AASGF (atomic absorption spectroscopy – graphite furnace), HR-ICP-MS (high resolution inductively-coupled plasma mass spectroscopy) and CVAAT (cold vapor atomic absorption technique). The blood samples (7CT, 8CT) from two “healthy subjects” (7, 8) were also collected and analyzed. Furthermore, plasma samples (1P-6P, and 7CP and 8CP) were prepared from fresh blood samples and analyzed for the same elements. The summary for Hg, usually considered highly toxic, is as follows. Interestingly, three of six total blood samples had concentrations of mercury (1T, 11.0(4) µg/L; 2T, 8.2(3); 4T, 7.4(3)) significantly higher than the control from this work (5.6(6) µg/L) and the control from the literature (5.3 µg/L). The concentration of lead for the total blood samples is in the range 82.7(5) – 36.9(5) µg/L and agrees well with average values for women from literature, 70 µg/L. The average concentration for the essential element zinc for the samples 1T-6T is 6658 µg/L, which compares well with the mean value from literature (5561 µg/L for “healthy subjects”).