title: Determination of rare earth elements in urine by electrothermal vaporization inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.
abstract: A method was developed for the determination of rare earth elements (REEs) in urine with electrothermal vaporization inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ETV-ICPMS). The undiluted sample was directly injected into the graphite tube and trifluoromethane (Freon-23) was used as chemical modifier in order to reduce the vaporization temperature and the memory effect of most of the lanthanides. The detection limits were in the range 1-10 ng/L with relative standard deviation of 3-5% at concentration levels of 1microg/L, and less than 10-15% at 100 ng/L. Two different procedures, external calibration and a standard additions method, were evaluated to measure the concentration levels of lanthanides in the urine samples and the second procedure was considered to be the best choice for calibration in this work. The level of REEs in urine of 50 healthy volunteers was in the range 5-20 ng/L, above the detection limit of ETV-ICPMS.
authors.affiliation: ENEL DP-Central Laboratory of Piacenza, via N. Bixio 39, Piacenza, Italy.
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bettinelli
authors.forename: Sandro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Spezia
authors.forename: Cesarina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Terni
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ronchi
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Balducci
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Minoia
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006358:Hot Temperature; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D008674:Metals, Rare Earth / Q000652:urine*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009330:Nebulizers and Vaporizers; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014835:Volatilization
chemical_list: D008674:Metals, Rare Earth