Examination of distribution of trace elements in hair, fingernails and toenails as alternative biological materials : application of chemometric methods

摘要

The aim of this study was to find correlations between several studied elements and analyzed materials as well as the application\udand validation of an analytical method to determine trace elements in hair, fingernails and toenails of healthy volunteers (normal\udconcentration). The method developed covers washing, mineralization and ICP- MS determination of 10 elements (Ca, Cd, Co, Cr,\udCu, Fe, Mg, Ni, Pb and Zn) in hair and nails. Concentrations of the selected elements in hair, fingernails and toenails were measured\udfor 24 women and 18 men. Furthermore, a chemometric approach (Principal Component Analysis, PCA) was employed to evaluate\udthe correlations between concentrations of the elements in hair and nails and between these materials. Until now PCA has not been\udfrequently applied in handling and interpretation of the results of analysis of biological materials. However, the results of the present\udinvestigation show the high potential of PCA in extraction of valuable information from analytical measurements. Additionally, PCA\udhas become a useful tool for visualization of the obtained results. Moreover, the cluster analysis (CA) was used to group the samples\udaccording to gender, taking into account two different groups of elements: essential and toxic.