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Determine Multiple Elements Simultaneously in the Sera of Umbilical Cord Blood Samples—a Very Simple Method

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An Erratum to this article was published on 23 February 2017

Abstract

Analyzing the concentrations of heavy metals in the sera of umbilical cord blood samples can provide useful information about prenatal exposure to environmental agents. An analytical method based on ICP-MS to simultaneously determine multiple elements in umbilical cord blood samples was developed for assessing the in utero exposure to metallic and metalloid elements. The method only required as little as 100 μL of serum diluted 1:25 for direct analysis. Matrix-matched protocol was used to eliminate mass matrix interference and kinetic energy discrimination mode was used to eliminate the polyatomic ion interference. The assay was completed on average within 4 min with the detection limits ranging from 0.0002 to 44.4 μg/L for all the targeted elements. The detection rates for most of elements were 100 % other than cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), and mercury (Hg). The testing results of the certified reference materials were ideal. The method is simple and sensitive, so it is suitable for the monitoring of large quantities of samples.

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Acknowledgments

Funding was provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81330068, Beijing, People’s Republic of China).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230021, Anhui Province, People’s Republic of China

    Chunmei Liang, Zhijuan Li, Xun Xia, Qunan Wang, Ruiwen Tao, Yiran Tao, Haiyun Xiang, Shilu Tong & Fangbiao Tao

  2. Anhui Provincial Key Laboratory of Population Health & Aristogenics, Hefei, 230021, Anhui Province, People’s Republic of China

    Chunmei Liang, Zhijuan Li, Xun Xia, Qunan Wang, Ruiwen Tao, Yiran Tao, Haiyun Xiang, Shilu Tong & Fangbiao Tao

  3. Department of Hygiene Analysis and Detection, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230021, Anhui Province, People’s Republic of China

    Chunmei Liang

  4. Department of Pediatrics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230022, Anhui Province, People’s Republic of China

    Xun Xia

  5. Department of toxicology, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230021, Anhui Province, People’s Republic of China

    Qunan Wang

  6. School of Public Health and Social Work and Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia

    Shilu Tong

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  1. Chunmei Liang
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  2. Zhijuan Li
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  3. Xun Xia
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  4. Qunan Wang
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  5. Ruiwen Tao
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  7. Haiyun Xiang
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  8. Shilu Tong
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  9. Fangbiao Tao
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Shilu Tong or Fangbiao Tao.

Ethics declarations

All experimental procedures were approved by the institutional ethics committee of Anhui Medical University.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Chunmei Liang, Zhijuan Li, and Xun Xia are the equal first authors.

An erratum to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12011-017-0958-6.

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Liang, C., Li, Z., Xia, X. et al. Determine Multiple Elements Simultaneously in the Sera of Umbilical Cord Blood Samples—a Very Simple Method. Biol Trace Elem Res 177, 1–8 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-016-0853-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-016-0853-6

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