Development of candidate reference materials for the measurement of lead in bone

• Published in: Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry 2008-07, Vol.391 (6), p.2011-2021
• Main Authors: Hetter, Katherine M, Bellis, David J, Geraghty, Ciaran, Todd, Andrew C, Parsons, Patrick J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: analysis; Analytical Chemistry; Animals; Biochemistry; Bone and Bones; Bone and Bones - chemistry; bones; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; cleaning; Food Science; grinding; Hazardous Substances; humans; Instrumental analysis; Laboratory Medicine; lead; Lead - analysis; Lead - standards; Models, Animal; Monitoring/Environmental Analysis; nitrogen; occupational exposure; Original Paper; Reference materials; Reference Standards; temperature; trace elements
• ISSN: 1618-2642; 1618-2650
• DOI: 10.1007/s00216-008-2085-x

The production of modest quantities of candidate bone lead (Pb) reference materials is described, and an optimized production procedure is presented. The reference materials were developed to enable an assessment of the interlaboratory agreement of laboratories measuring Pb in bone; method validation; and for calibration of solid sampling techniques such as laser ablation ICP-MS. Long bones obtained from Pb-dosed and undosed animals were selected to produce four different pools of a candidate powdered bone reference material. The Pb concentrations of these pools reflect both environmental and occupational exposure levels in humans. The animal bones were harvested post mortem, cleaned, defatted, and broken into pieces using the brittle fracture technique at liquid nitrogen temperature. The bone pieces were then ground in a knife mill to produce fragments of 2-mm size. These were further ground in an ultra-centrifugal mill, resulting in finely powdered bone material that was homogenized and then sampled-scooped into vials. Testing for contamination and homogeneity was performed via instrumental methods of analysis.