Validation of in vivo toenail measurements of manganese and mercury using a portable X-ray fluorescence device.
J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol
; 32(3): 427-433, 2022 05.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34211112
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE:
Toenail metal concentrations can be used as an effective biomarker for exposure to environmental toxicants. Typically toenail clippings are measured ex vivo using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). X-ray fluorescence (XRF) toenail metal measurements done on intact toenails in vivo could be used as an alternative to alleviate some of the disadvantages of ICP-MS. In this study, we assessed the ability to use XRF to measure toenail metal concentrations in real-time without having to clip the toenails (i.e., in vivo) in two occupational settings for exposure assessment of manganese and mercury. MATERIALS ANDMETHODS:
The portable XRF method used a 3-min in vivo measurement of toenails prior to clipping and was assessed against ICP-MS measurement of toenail clippings taken immediately after the XRF measurement and work history for a group of welders (n = 16) assessed for manganese exposure and nail salon workers (n = 10) assessed for mercury exposure. RESULTS ANDCONCLUSIONS:
We identified that in vivo XRF metal measurements were able to discern exposure to manganese in welders and mercury in nail salon workers. We identified significant positive correlations between ICP-MS of clippings and in vivo XRF measures of both toenail manganese (R = 0.59, p = 0.02) and mercury (R = 0.74, p < 0.001), as well as between in vivo XRF toenail manganese and work history among the welders (R = 0.55, p = 0.03). We identified in vivo XRF detection limits to be 0.5 µg/g for mercury and 2.6 µg/g for manganese. Further work should elucidate differences in the timing of exposure using the in vivo XRF method over toenail clippings and modification of measurement time and x-ray setting to further decrease the detection limit. In vivo portable, XRF measurements can be used to effectively measure toenail Mn and Hg in occupational participants in real-time during study visits and at a fraction of the cost.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Mercury
/
Nails
Type of study:
Prognostic_studies
Limits:
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol
Journal subject:
EPIDEMIOLOGIA
/
SAUDE AMBIENTAL
Year:
2022
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United States