Study of cross-sectional and longitudinal distribution of some major and minor elements in the hair samples of haemodialysed patients with micro-PIXE

Abstract

The concentration of Zn, K, Ca, Fe and Cl was determined in the hair samples of haemodialysed patients and healthy controls. Cross-sectional and longitudinal measurements were performed using the micro-PIXE method. The concentration changes of the above mentioned elements along the length of the hair and their cross-sectional distribution were studied. The effect of the washing procedure on the concentration of these elements has also been determined. The ability of the PIXE method was examined using Human Hair certified reference material (NCS DC 73347), and the results show that this method can be used to determine the concentration of the selected elements in the hair samples. We compared the results of the PIXE method with the results obtained from microwave digested reference material with the ICP-OES method. The concentration ranges of Ca, Fe and Zn were similar in the patients and controls while the concentration ranges of Cl and K were different (controls: Ca, 135-1598; Cl, 394-2382; Fe, 6-51; K, 54-1055; Zn, 102-183 µg g –1 ; versus patients: Ca, 298-559; Cl, 2476-7821; Fe, 15-58; K, 327-2031; Zn, 96-163 µg g –1 ). The washing procedure highly affected the concentration of K and Cl (unwashed: K, 1164±846; Cl, 6107±1714 µg g –1 ; versus washed: K, 497±552; Cl, 3470±1446 µg g –1 ). There were no differences between controls and patients in the cross-sectional distribution of the selected elements; the distribution of Cl was homogeneous, the Ca was concentrated in the outer layer of the hair while the distribution of K was nearly homogeneous with a slight increase at the outer layer.