Validation of in vivo Toenail Measurements of Manganese and Mercury using a Portable X-Ray Fluorescence Device

Details

• Journal Article:
  Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology
• Personal Author:
  Allen, Joseph G. ; Ceballos, Diana M. ; Christiani, David C. ; Nguyen, Vy T. ; Nie, Linda H. ; Specht, Aaron J. ; Weisskopf, Marc G. ; Weuve, Jennifer ; Young, Anna S. ; Zhang, Xinxin ; Allen, Joseph G. ; Ceballos, Diana M. ; Christiani, David C. ; Nguyen, Vy T. ; Nie, Linda H. ; Specht, Aaron J. ; Weisskopf, Marc G. ; Weuve, Jennifer ; Young, Anna S. ; Zhang, Xinxin
• Description:
  Background and objective: Toenail metal concentrations can be used as an effective biomarker for exposure to environmental toxicants. Typically toenail clippings are measured ex vivo using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). X-ray fluorescence (XRF) toenail metal measurements done on intact toenails in vivo could be used as an alternative to alleviate some of the disadvantages of ICP-MS. In this study, we assessed the ability to use XRF to measure toenail metal concentrations in real-time without having to clip the toenails (i.e., in vivo) in two occupational settings for exposure assessment of manganese and mercury. Materials and methods: The portable XRF method used a 3-min in vivo measurement of toenails prior to clipping and was assessed against ICP-MS measurement of toenail clippings taken immediately after the XRF measurement and work history for a group of welders (n = 16) assessed for manganese exposure and nail salon workers (n = 10) assessed for mercury exposure. Results and conclusions: We identified that in vivo XRF metal measurements were able to discern exposure to manganese in welders and mercury in nail salon workers. We identified significant positive correlations between ICP-MS of clippings and in vivo XRF measures of both toenail manganese (R = 0.59, p = 0.02) and mercury (R = 0.74, p < 0.001), as well as between in vivo XRF toenail manganese and work history among the welders (R = 0.55, p = 0.03). We identified in vivo XRF detection limits to be 0.5 µg/g for mercury and 2.6 µg/g for manganese. Further work should elucidate differences in the timing of exposure using the in vivo XRF method over toenail clippings and modification of measurement time and x-ray setting to further decrease the detection limit. In vivo portable, XRF measurements can be used to effectively measure toenail Mn and Hg in occupational participants in real-time during study visits and at a fraction of the cost. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Biomarkers Fluorescence Manganese Mercury Metals Metals, Heavy Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety Spectrometry, X-Ray Emission Welding X-Rays

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• Keywords:
  Biomarkers; Biological materials; X-ray fluorescence analysis; In vivo studies; Mercury; Metals; Manganese; Nail technicians; Occupational exposure; Welders; Welding industry; Limit of detection; LOD
• Source:
  J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 2022 May; 32(3):427-433 ; J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 2022 May; 32(3):427-433
• ISSN:
  1559-0631
• Pubmed ID:
  34211112
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC8720103
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  P42 ES007373/ES/NIEHS NIH HHSUnited States/ ; P30 CA023108/CA/NCI NIH HHSUnited States/ ; T42OH008416/ACL/ACL HHSUnited States/ ; UL1 TR001102/TR/NCATS NIH HHSUnited States/ ; R25 ES023635/ES/NIEHS NIH HHSUnited States/ ; R21 ES024700/ES/NIEHS NIH HHSUnited States/ ; P30 ES000002/ES/NIEHS NIH HHSUnited States/ ; K01 OH011648/OH/NIOSH CDC HHSUnited States/
• Genre:
  Journal Article ; Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Indiana ; Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1 ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health ; Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America ; North America
• Pages in Document:
  21 pdf pages
• Volume:
  32
• Issue:
  3
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20064895
• Contact Point Address:
  Aaron J. Specht, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
• Email:
  aspecht@hsph.harvard.edu
• CAS Registry Number:
  Manganese (CAS RN 7439-96-5) ; Mercury (CAS RN 7439-97-6) ; Manganese (CAS RN 7439-96-5) ; Mercury (CAS RN 7439-97-6)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2022
• NORA Priority Area:
  Construction ; Manufacturing ; Construction ; Manufacturing
• Performing Organization:
  Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:43df85a5a95885a55bb7db616da001fc822606d04785ce717b9146a9d4c523fc1d6dac433353fd5e6ec02b14233f79632f0b9dfc1098a5d28a27ef03c37a579d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/113047/cdc_113047_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 680.38 KB ]