Objective To establish a method for rapid and simultaneous determination of 17 elements in whole blood by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.
Methods After acid digestion, 17 trace elements in whole blood samples including Be, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, As, Se, Mo, Ag, Cd, Sn, Sb, Tl, Pb, Al, Cu, and Zn were simultaneously determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Li, Sc, Ge, and In were used as internal standards.
Results The detection limit of the elements ranged from 0.081-218 μg/L. The average correlation coefficients were all ≥ 0.995 0, with good linearity. The recovery rates of each element varied from 83.0% to 112.1%. The intra-day and inter-day precisions ranged from 0.92% to 10.10% and from 0.51% to 9.05%, respectively.
Conclusion A simple and rapid method is validated showing accurate and satisfied results. It meets the technical requirements of biology samples and can be applied to the determination of 17 metallic elements in human whole blood samples.