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Exposure to barium (Ba) mostly occurs in the workplace or from Concentrations of Ba in blood and urine that affect human
drinking water, but it may sometimes be due to accidental or inten- health can be rather low. The concentrations of Ba in biological
Material Volume of sample Microwave digestion Final volume Dilution with water before measurement
(mL) (mL)
HNO3 H2O2
Blood: Seronorm Whole Blood L-2 2 3 1 10 1:10, 1:5 or 1:2 (similar results obtained)
2 3 1 10
Serum 0.5 3 1 10 1:10, 1:5 or 1:2 (similar results obtained)
Urine: Seronorm Trace Elements Urine 10 3 1 20 1:10 or 1:5 (similar results); 1:2 (lower results obtained)
5 3 1 10
Application of ICP-OES to the Determination of Barium in Blood and Urine in Clinical and Forensic Analysis 223
possible to use it only for acute poisonings, and only after ex- and urine with demineralized water and then analyzed them.
traction, for example by tetrasodium versenate in alkaline solu- The detection limits achieved were 0.06 mg/L of Ba for water,
tion, with an LOD of 30 mg/L (32). Most ET-AAS applications 0.25 mg/L of Ba for urine and 0.6 mg/L of Ba for blood. Schramel
have been used in the analysis of drinking water within the et al. (25) analyzed urine samples for Ba, Sr, Ti and other ele-
range of a few mg/L to several hundred mg/L, and in the analysis ments (B, Ca, Cu, Fe, Mg, P and Zn) by the ICP-OES technique
of the very challenging matrix of seawater (23); however, some after acidification of a sample (10 mL of concentrated nitric acid
authors have described its application to the evaluation of of high quality/100 mL of urine).
barium concentrations, e.g., in a case of acute poisoning (13). It Physiological reference values reported for Ba, which are of
seems that emission techniques (ICP-OES or ICP-MS) may be particular interest in the field of occupational medicine due to
current methods of choice for the determination of barium in relatively common exposure at the workplace, are scarce.
biological material, not only to evaluate levels in chronic or According to Hamilton et al. (34), the normal values for barium
acute poisonings, but also to estimate reference levels. Although are approximately 4 mg/mL in urine and below 1 mg/mL in
ICP-MS offers excellent detection capabilities in the analysis of blood. Schramel et al. (25) obtained, for 25 samples of urine,
mean values of 4.5 + 4.2 mg/mL of Ba, as the reference values
Table V.
Concentrations of Ba in Blood and Urine in People Not Exposed to Ba
224 Lech
of Ba; and urine: 70.6 + 95.1 (mean + SD), 21.3 (median), and Dr. Patrycja Krawczyk from the Nofer Institute of
0.7 –213 (range) mg/mL of Ba. Occupational Medicine in Lodz, Poland, for providing antemor-
The concentrations in blood, serum and urine in cases of ex- tem blood and urine samples for barium determinations.
posure or acute poisoning with barium compounds are usually
considerably higher. In the described case of acute poisoning,
probably by inhalation of barium carbonate, levels reached 160 References
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Application of ICP-OES to the Determination of Barium in Blood and Urine in Clinical and Forensic Analysis 225
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226 Lech