Simultaneous Determination of Aluminum, Cadmium and Lead in Whole Blood by Simultaneous Atomic Absorption Spectrometry with Oxygen Charring

A method for the simultaneous determination of aluminum (Al), cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) in whole blood has been developed by using simultaneous atomic absorption spectrometry (SIMAAS) with oxygen charring. The optimized conditions for the simultaneous determination of Al, Cd and Pb were obtained in the presence of palladium (Pd) as the chemical modifier, using 600 °C and 2400 °C as the pyrolysis and the atomization temperature, respectively. The whole blood samples were diluted 1+5 (v/v) directly with 0.1% (v/v) Triton X-100. Oxygen was employed to eliminate the interference of carbonaceous residues in the charring step before pyrolysis. The calibration curves were carried out with aqueous standard solutions and the linear ranges were 0-40 ng mL"', 0-4 ng mL"' and 0-40 ng mL -1 for Al, Cd and Pb, respectively. The detection limits were 0.96 ng mL -1 (19.2 pg) for Al, 0.03 ng mL -1 (0.6 pg) for Cd and 0.60 ng mL"' (12.0 pg) for Pb. The spiked recoveries of Al, Cd and Pb in whole blood were 98.0%, 100.0% and 101.7%, respectively. The accuracy of the proposed method was evaluated with the analysis of a whole blood certified reference material (Seronorm, level 2). The found concentrations were in agreement with the recommended values. The proposed method has been successfully applied to the simultaneous determination of Al, Cd and Pb in whole blood of healthy volunteers before and after eating barbecued foods.