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The Simultaneous Analysis of Eight Essential Trace Elements in Human Milk by ICP-MS

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Abstract

Trace elements are commonly present as components of metabolic enzymes, hormones and antioxidants in human milk. Previous studies have reported single or few elements in relatively large volumes of human milk using complex, time-consuming and expensive methods involving microwave-assisted acid digestion and extraction using tetramethylammonium hydroxide at various temperatures. We report here a validated alkaline dissolution method using ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, ammonia solution, isopropanol and Triton X-100 to simultaneously determine trace elements in 0.2 mL samples of human milk by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The trace elements zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), selenium (Se), manganese (Mn), iodine (I), iron (Fe), molybdenum (Mo), bromine (Br), chromium (Cr), cobalt (Co), lead (Pb), nickel (Ni), silver (Ag), cadmium (Cd), arsenic (As), bismuth (Bi), aluminium (Al), antimony (Sb), vanadium (V), thallium (Tl) and uranium (U) were detected, and the method was applied quantitatively to 12 samples of human milk. The results for method validation showed good sensitivity, accuracy and repeatability for Zn, Cu, Se, Mn, I, Fe, Mo and Br. The mean ± SD of these elements in the above human milk samples (μg/L) were 1390.6 ± 211.5, 220.8 ± 32.9, 14.3 ± 5.8, 1.37 ± 0.14, 113.5 ± 17.1, 47.3 ± 99.9, 0.37 ± 0.12 and 812.6 ± 127.7, respectively. This method is precise, reliable, straightforward and cost-effective in the determination of trace elements simultaneously in small sample volumes of human milk. Method application permits routine monitoring of several elements and the ongoing assessment of trace element nutrition in breast milk. It is the first method to highlight the relatively high Br levels present in human milk.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the Inorganic Chemistry of Queensland Health Forensic and Scientific Services for assistance with method validation and the RBWH milk bank for the breast milk samples collection. Nor Mohd Taufek is sponsored by the Ministry of Education Malaysia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Pharmacy, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, 4072, Australia

    Nor Mohd-Taufek, Amitha K. Hewavitharana, Paul N. Shaw & Karen Whitfield

  2. Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    David Cartwright, Mark Davies & Pieter Koorts

  3. Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Metro North Health Services District, Butterfield Street, Herston, Queensland, 4209, Australia

    David Cartwright, Mark Davies, Pieter Koorts & Karen Whitfield

  4. Inorganic Chemistry, Queensland Health Forensic and Scientific Services, Coopers Plains, Queensland, 4108, Australia

    Ronald Sumner & Eugene Lee

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  1. Nor Mohd-Taufek
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  2. David Cartwright
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  5. Pieter Koorts
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  7. Ronald Sumner
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  8. Eugene Lee
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  9. Karen Whitfield
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Karen Whitfield.

Ethics declarations

All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with ethical standards of the institutional and national research committee. This study received ethical approval from the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH) and the University of Queensland ethics committee, Australia.

Conflict of Interest

Nor Mohd-Taufek declares that he has no conflict of interest. David Cartwright declares that he has no conflict of interest. Mark Davies declares that he has no conflict of interest. Amitha K. Hewavitharana declares that she has no conflict of interest. Pieter Koorts declares that he has no conflict of interest. Paul N. Shaw declares that he has no conflict of interest. Ronald Sumner declares that he has no conflict of interest. Eugene Lee declares that he has no conflict of interest. Karen Whitfield declares that she has no conflict of interest.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Mohd-Taufek, N., Cartwright, D., Davies, M. et al. The Simultaneous Analysis of Eight Essential Trace Elements in Human Milk by ICP-MS. Food Anal. Methods 9, 2068–2075 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-015-0396-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-015-0396-z

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