Lead screening in DBS by solid sampling high-resolution continuum source graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry: application to newborns and pregnant women

Abstract

Background: DBS have become a clinical specimen especially adequate for establishing home-based collection protocols. In this work, high-resolution continuum source graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry is evaluated for the direct monitoring of Pb in DBS, both as a quantitative tool and a screening method. Methodology: The development of the screening model is based on the establishment of the unreliability region around the threshold limits, 100 or 50 μg l-1. More than 500 samples were analyzed to validate the model. Conclusion: The screening method demonstrated high sensitivity (the rate of true positives detected was always higher than 95%), an excellent LOD (1 µg l-1) and high throughput (10 min per sample).