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Background Values for Essential and Toxic Elements in Children’s Nails and Correlation with Hair Levels

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Abstract

Human nails are an attractive matrix for assessing environmental exposures to toxic elements as well as the deficiency of essential elements since it is noninvasively collected and can be stored at room temperature. However, reference or baseline levels in nonexposed and healthy populations are not yet established. Then, the aims of this study were (a) to estimate background values for essential and toxic elements in nails from a healthy young population in southern Brazil and (b) to evaluate possible correlations between essential and toxic elements in nails. Furthermore, this report took part of a recent study of background values in the hair of a young population. Thus, correlations between chemical elements in nails and hair were also evaluated. Nails were collected from healthy children (n = 126), and element concentrations were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. This study provides new and reliable reference concentrations for toxic and essential elements in children’s nails. The results can be used as reference values for epidemiological or clinical investigations based on trace elements in nails. Additionally, we also showed weak to strong correlations between Cu, Mg, Mn, Se, and Zn levels in nails and hair.

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Acknowledgments

The study was supported by grants from the Secretaria de Saúde do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul (Convênio 020/05), the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico—CNPq (MCT/CNPq 06/2008), and the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP). We also thank Alan Silveira Fleck, Gabriela Ramos Chagas, Maurício Moresco, and Marcella Oddy Piva for technical support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratório de Toxicologia e Essencialidade de Metais, Departamento de Análises Clínicas, Toxicológicas e Bromatológicas, Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Avenida do Café s/n, Monte Alegre, 14040-903, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil

    Maria Fernanda Hornos Carneiro, Denise Grotto, Bruno Lemos Batista & Fernando Barbosa Jr

  2. Laboratório de Estresse Oxidativo e Poluição Atmosférica, Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre, Avenida Sarmento Leite, 245, Centro, CEP 90050-170, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

    Claudia Ramos Rhoden

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  1. Maria Fernanda Hornos Carneiro
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  2. Denise Grotto
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  3. Bruno Lemos Batista
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  4. Claudia Ramos Rhoden
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  5. Fernando Barbosa Jr
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Correspondence to Fernando Barbosa Jr.

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Carneiro, M.F.H., Grotto, D., Batista, B.L. et al. Background Values for Essential and Toxic Elements in Children’s Nails and Correlation with Hair Levels. Biol Trace Elem Res 144, 339–350 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-011-9102-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-011-9102-1

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