Determination of Mercury Species in Human Blood Using Combined GC and MS with Inductively Coupled Plasma

A simple method for methylmercury (MeHg+) determination in human venous blood is described using GC-ICP-MS. The blood sample preparation consists in the extraction with a mixture of 6M HCl and NaCl, pH adjustment, derivatization of mercury species using NaBPh4 with simultaneous extraction of products into hexane. The detection limits for MeHg+ were 86 ppt (as Hg) in the optimized method. The sample volume for repeated measurements was 150 ml. The total Hg level in blood was determined by AAS using the amalgamation technique.