Exploiting dynamic reaction cell inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (DRC-ICP-MS) for sequential determination of trace elements in blood using a dilute-and-shoot procedure

Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry with quadrupole (q-ICP-MS) and dynamic reaction cell (DRC-ICP-MS) were evaluated for sequential determination of As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Pb, Se, Tl, V and Zn in blood. The method requires as little as 100 mu L of blood. Prior to analysis, samples (100 mu L) were diluted 1:50 in a solution containing 0.01% (v/v) Triton (R) X-100 and 0.5% (v/v) nitric acid. The use of the DRC was only mandatory for Cr, Cu, V and Zn. For the other elements the equipment may be operated in a standard mode (q-ICP-MS). Ammonia was used as reaction gas. Selection of best flow rate of ammonium gas and optimization of the quadrupole dynamic band-pass tuning parameter (RPq) were carried out, using a ovine base blood for Cr and V and a synthetic matrix solution (SMS) for Zn and Cu diluted 1:50 and spiked to contain 1 mu g L-1 of each element. Method detection limits (3 s) for As-75, Cd-114, Co-59, Cr-51, Cu-63 Mn-55, Pb-208, Se-82, Tl-205, V-51, and Zn-64 were 14.0, 3.0, 11.0, 7.0, 280, 9.0, 3.0, 264, 0.7, 6.0 and 800 ng L-1, respectively. Method validation was accomplished by the analysis of blood Reference Materials produced by the National cle Sant Publique du Quebec (Canada). (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.