Accuracy of multi-element analysis of human tissue obtained at autopsy using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

Abstract

The accuracy of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) for the multi-element analysis of human tissue has been assessed by analysis of National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Standard Reference Material (SRM) 1577a Bovine Liver, International Atomic Energy (IAEA) Certified Reference Material (CRM) H 8 Kidney and IAEA CRM H 4 Animal Muscle for Al, Mg, Mn, Fe, Co, Zn, Cu, Mo, Rb, Sr and Cd. Twenty three out of 24 determinations agreed with certified values. An intercomparison was also made between ICP-MS and the well established technique of atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) for Al, Mg, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn and Cd in human tissue samples, which covered a much wider range of analyte concentrations than the reference materials. Drift in the ICP-MS instrument was studied for 3 h and all but the lighter elements Al and Mg were found to be acceptably controlled by an In internal standard. The equivalence of the ICP-MS and AAS data was compared using the usual statistics of correlation and regression. In addition, comparisons were made using the statistical analysis advocated by Bland and Altman. In spite of the problems found, ICP-MS is capable of accurate and rapid multi-element analysis of human autopsy tissue.