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Optimisation of Direct Copper Determination in Human Breast Milk Without Digestion by Zeeman Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry with Two Chemical Modifiers

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Abstract

Milk is an important food in the human diet, and copper (Cu) in human milk is indispensable to children's normal growth and development. It is consequently important that Cu deficiency, occurring in malnourished women or in malabsorption following bariatric surgery, be prevented. The objective of this work is to provide hospital-based paediatricians with a tool enabling rapid measurement of Cu in human breast milk through a technique that biology laboratories can easily apply. Using electrothermal atomic absorption spectrophotometry with Zeeman correction, we have optimized this method with two chemical modifiers and without digestion for analytical procedure. Detection limits and quantification limits for Cu in human milk were found to be 0.077 and 0.26 μmol/L, respectively. Within-run (n = 30) and between-run (n = 15) variations in a pool of human milk samples were 1.50 and 3.62 %, respectively. Average recoveries ranged from 98.67 to 100.61 %. The reliability of this method was also confirmed by analysing certified reference material (10 %). In breast milk samples collected from 100 lactating mothers, Cu mean (±1 SD) was 7.09 ± 1.60 μmol/L. In conclusion, with minimal preparation and quick determination, the method proposed is suitable for measurement of Cu in human breast milk.

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Abbreviations

EAAS:

Electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

ICP-MS:

Inductively coupled plasma with mass spectrometry

LOD:

Lower limit of detection

LOQ:

Lower limit of quantification

NAA:

Neutron activation analysis

NIST:

National Institute of Standards and Technology

SRM:

Standard reference material®

ZEAAS:

Zeeman electrothermal atomic absorption spectrophotometry

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Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculté de Pharmacie, Laboratoire de Toxicologie, Université de Nantes, 44035, Nantes, France

    Alain Pineau

  2. Faculté de Médecine et de Pharmacie, CiMoTheMA, Université de Poitiers, EA3808, 86021, Poitiers, France

    Bernard Fauconneau

  3. Laboratoire de Biochimie, CHU Poitiers, Université de Poitiers, 86 021, Poitiers, France

    Annie Marrauld, Alexandra Lebeau & Olivier Guillard

  4. INSERM U 1069, CHRU de Tours, Université de Tours, 37000, Tours, France

    Regis Hankard

Authors
  1. Alain Pineau
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  2. Bernard Fauconneau
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  3. Annie Marrauld
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  4. Alexandra Lebeau
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  5. Regis Hankard
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  6. Olivier Guillard
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Correspondence to Olivier Guillard.

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Pineau, A., Fauconneau, B., Marrauld, A. et al. Optimisation of Direct Copper Determination in Human Breast Milk Without Digestion by Zeeman Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry with Two Chemical Modifiers. Biol Trace Elem Res 166, 119–122 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-015-0249-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-015-0249-z

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