TRACE ELEMENTS IN BLOOD SERUM OF SÃO PAULO YOUTHS MEASURED BY PIXE

Abstract

The level and change in concentration of trace elements in the fluids of a body may be the result and an evidence of alterations in life functions. In the search for trace element alterations in the human body it is necessary to know referenced values for as many elements as possible. In this work, Proton Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) was used to study elemental concentrations in human blood serum of 30 healthy donors. The serum samples were obtained by centrifugation and were micro-pipetted on 10µm thick Nuclepore film for PIXE analysis. The elemental concentrations were calculated relative to an internal yttrium standard added during sample preparation. A total of 9 elements were measured (P, S, Cl, K, Ca, Fe, Cu, Zn and Br) in good agreement with literature data. The accuracy of the method was verified analysing reference serum samples from the NIPH-Québec (ICP04S-06 and ICP02S-05). A preliminary statistical analysis indicated a log-normal distribution only for Fe and Cu, while concentration data for the other elements followed the normal distributions. This result indicates the need for stronger statistical data set since the distribution of the elemental concentrations may be a criterion to access their role in biological functions.