title: Application of three spectrometric methods to total selenium determination in postmortem material in a case of acute selenium compound poisoning.
abstract: Three spectrometric methods, that is, spectrofluorimetry (SF), atomic absorption spectrometry with electrothermal atomization (ET-AAS), and atomic fluorescence spectrometry with hydride generation (HG-AFS) were used for the determination of total selenium in biological samples taken from postmortem material in a case of acute selenium compound poisoning. The precision of the SF, ET-AAS, and HG-AFS methods (RSD, n=10) was found to be in the ranges of 10.0-15.0, 3.0-6.0 and 1.0-1.5%, respectively, and the detection limit was 10.0, 4.0, and 0.1 μg/L of Se, respectively. In the case of HG-AFS, the analytical procedure takes less time and is less laborious than the other methods considered. The obtained results show the usefulness of the HG-AFS method as a supplementary analytical tool to the SF and ET-AAS methods with respect to the determination of selenium as well as the possibility of using this method as a primary one in forensic toxicology practice.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Forensic Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Jagiellonian University, 3 Ingardena St., 30-060 Kraków, Poland. wietecha@chemia.uj.edu.pl
authors.forename: Renata
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wietecha-Posłuszny
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lech
authors.forename: Paweł
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kościelniak
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D053593:Forensic Toxicology; D006801:Humans; D007668:Kidney / Q000737:chemistry; D008099:Liver / Q000737:chemistry; D008168:Lung / Q000737:chemistry; D012643:Selenium / Q000032:analysis*; D018036:Selenium Compounds / Q000506:poisoning*; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic; D013270:Stomach / Q000737:chemistry; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D018036:Selenium Compounds; D012643:Selenium