1.Determination of reference concentrations of strontium in urine by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry.
Kan USUDA ; Koichi KONO ; Satsuki HAYASHI ; Takashi KAWASAKI ; Go MITSUI ; Takahiro SHIBUTANI ; Emi DOTE ; Kazuya ADACHI ; Michiko FUJIHARA ; Yukari SHIMBO ; Wei SUN ; Bo LU ; Kazuo NAKASUJI
Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine 2006;11(1):11-16
OBJECTIVEThe aim of this study was to establish reference concentrations of urinary strontium by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES).
METHODSFor the determination of strontium, urine samples were collected from healthy Japanese (n=146; 115 males, 31 females; mean age, 33±9 years; age range, 18 to 58 years). The urine samples stored at or below -20°C were thawed with incubation at 40°C for 30 min and sediments were dissolved by vigorous shakings. Then, the samples were centrifuged at 3000 g for 5 min, and the supernatant was directly aspired into a P-5200-3600/1200 ICP-AES system from Hitachi Ltd., Tokyo, Japan.
RESULTSA steeper increase in the S/N ratio and a good effective linearity of the calibration line was obtained at 407.771 nm in the range of 0-300 μg/L strontium standard solution. Urine samples having the same background signal as that of 18 MΩ cm ultrapure blank water, a good correspondence of the single peak pattern of the spectra, accuracy and precision of spike recovery were also confirmed. Urinary strontium concentrations showed a log-normal distribution and a geometric mean concentration of 143.9 μg/L, with 5-95% confidential interval of 40.9-505.8 μg/L.
CONCLUSIONThe results of this study will be useful as guidelines for the biological monitoring of strontium in normal subjects and in individuals therapeutically or environmentally exposed to strontium.