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Evaluation of Monochromatic Excitation X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry for Rapid Thallium Detection in Biological Samples Using Animal Models

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Abstract

Monochromatic excitation X-ray fluorescence (ME-XRF) spectrometry is a novel technique for trace element analysis, characterized by its simplicity, rapidity, and low cost. The objective of this study was to evaluate the applicability of ME-XRF technique for the measurement of thallium in biological samples. Acute and subacute thallium poisoning experiments were conducted to simulate various scenarios, with blood, urine, and 10 distinct organs collected. Detection was initially performed using ME-XRF technique, followed by validation with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Excellent agreement between ME-XRF and ICP-MS values was demonstrated by means of paired sample t-tests and intraclass correlation coefficients. Subsequently, the practical implementation of the proposed technique was demonstrated through an actual case study. In conclusion, this study validates ME-XRF as a suitable alternative to ICP-MS for the measurement of trace heavy metals in biological samples. These efforts promote the development of simpler and faster techniques for heavy metal detection, thereby presenting novel avenues for the prevention and diagnosis of heavy metal poisoning.

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Data Availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Special Fund of Chinese Central Government for Basic Scientific Research Operations in Commonweal Research Institutes (2023JB007).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Investigation, People’s Public Security University of China, Beijing, 100038, China

    Shihao Wu & Jifen Wang

  2. Institute of Forensic Science, Ministry of Public Security, Beijing, 100038, China

    Shihao Wu, Peng Zhao, Aihua Wang, Linpei Dong, Xiaojun Wu & Yunfeng Zhang

Authors
  1. Shihao Wu
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  2. Peng Zhao
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  3. Aihua Wang
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  4. Linpei Dong
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  5. Xiaojun Wu
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  6. Jifen Wang
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  7. Yunfeng Zhang
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation was performed by Peng Zhao and Aihua Wang; data collection and analysis were performed by Shihao Wu, Linpei Dong and Xiaojun Wu. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Shihao Wu, Jifen Wang, and Yunfeng Zhang, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yunfeng Zhang.

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Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethics Approval

This study was conducted following approval from the Research Ethics Committee of the Institute of Forensic Science, Ministry of Public Security Committee (No: 2023-030). All the experimental procedures were carried out in accordance with international guidelines for care and use of laboratory animals.

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

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Wu, S., Zhao, P., Wang, A. et al. Evaluation of Monochromatic Excitation X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry for Rapid Thallium Detection in Biological Samples Using Animal Models. Biol Trace Elem Res 202, 2755–2763 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-023-03875-x

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