Study with Microbeam PIXE Technique Needed for the Interpretation of Data on Pollutants in Hair Obtained with NAA and Other Bulk Concentration Analysis. Part of a Coordinated Programme on Nuclear-Based Methods for Analysis of Poll

摘要

Hair metals the analysis of which has been proposed as a practical method for assaying human contamination with metal pollutants, reflect both internal and external contamination. This study is an attempt to distinguish these two components of hair metals, using the scanning microbeam PIXE technique. Individual hair strands were embedded in a resin combined with a hardener. Each embedded hair strand was cut perpendicular to its axis, into the root, 1-cm and 2-cm segments from the root. The 3 segments were analysed for few elements including As and Pb, using the scanning microbeam PIXE technique. For each segment, a proton microbeam of 15 mu diameter and 500Hz frequency was used to scan the segment cross-section along the long axis. X-ray spectrometry was used to determine the concentrations of the elements studied. The results, although preliminary, showed that the scanning microbeam PIXE technique may provide important information about elemental concentrations and distribution patterns along hair length and hair cross-section. This may lead to a better understanding of mechanisms responsible for the deposition of elements into hair and thereby to a more rational use of hair analysis as a method for assaying human exposure to element pollutants. (Atomindex citation 12:595755)