the effect of age, sex, smoking habit and hair color on the composition of hair

8/11/2019 The Effect of Age, Sex, Smoking Habit and Hair Color on the Composition of Hair

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Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology 22 (2006) 5257

The effect of age, sex, smoking habit and hair coloron the composition of hair

K. Chojnacka , H. Gorecka, H. Gorecki

Institute of Inorganic Technology and Mineral Fertilizers, Wrocaw University of Technology, ul. Smoluchowskiego 25, 50-372 Wrocaw, Poland

Received 10 October 2005; accepted 23 November 2005

Available online 7 February 2006

Abstract

Hairsamples(N= 83)werecollected between theyears 1996 and2003 from inhabitants of Wrocaw, a city located in Lower Silesia,south-westernPoland (urbanized and industrialized region). The concentrations of 33 elements: Ca, Mg, Na, K, Cu, Zn, P, Fe, Mn, Cr, Se, B, Co, Mo, Si, V, Ni, Be,

Hg, Cd, Al, Pb, As, Ba, Au, Pt, Ag, Sr, Sn, Ti, W, Sb and Zr in hair were determined by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS)

and inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) techniques. The effect of age, sex, smoking habits and hair color on the

elemental composition of hair was investigated. Also, the obtained results were compared with literature data. It was found that the composition of

hair varied with age, sex, hair color and smoking habits. This concerned the majority of elements except Ti, Se, Mn, Ni, Hg, Cd, As, Co (in the case

of effect of age), Al, Cd, Co (sex), Cd, K, Ag, Ca, Co, Be (smoking habit), P, Fe, Al, Mn and Cr (hair color). Therefore, reference valuesfor the level

of the remaining elements should be normalized according to age, sex, smoking habit and hair color. This would make hair analysis more reliable.

2006 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Keywords: Smoking habit; Hair color; Hair analysis

1. Introduction

Human hair has recently been used as a tool that enabled

to assess the environmental exposure to heavy metals (as

biomarker) and metabolic status of an organism concerning

essential trace elements (Bencko, 1995; Ashraf and Jaffar, 1997;

Ashraf et al., 1995). Several advantages of this method were

found, although several limitations were encountered in the

application of hair analysis in, for instance, clinical medicine

(Rodushkin and Axelssom, 2000). The main problems that arose

were related to theinterpretation of theresults,sincethe extentto

which elements are accumulated in hair could be a characteristic

of an individual person.

Undoubtedly, hair analysis is a non-invasive method of diag-nosis. Hair can be easily sampled, collected, stored and trans-

ported. Moreover, it provides a long-term information. Also, the

concentration of elements in hair is high when compared with

body tissues or fluids (Nowak, 1998).

Release of elements from body tissues and fluids to hair is a

method of detoxification of an organism. The excess of a given

Corresponding author. Tel.: +48 71 3203902; fax: +48 71 3203469.

E-mail address:[email protected] (K. Chojnacka).

element, either essential or toxic, can be safely deposited in hair.However, if the content of a given element in hair is elevated, it

does notnecessarilymean that a personsuffersfrom high content

of this element. It simply means that this element entered an

organism and was deposited in hair. This process occurs during

hair growthand thus thecompositionof hair provides a historical

insight of individual exposure andmineral statusof an organism.

Difficulties with the proper interpretation of results of hair

analysis are due to the absence of well defined reference concen-

tration ranges, problems associated with differentiating between

endogenous and exogenous deposition, inconsistency of hair

concentration anomalies with nutritional status and clinical

symptoms (Rodushkin and Axelssom, 2000).The difficulties in

establishing normal or reference ranges are also due to the nat-

ural variance of hair composition as a possible consequence of

age, sex, hair color, ethnical and geographic origin, dietary fac-

tors, etc. (Miekeley et al., 1998; Sharma et al., 2004; Batzevich,

1995).

The aim of the present work was to investigate the composi-

tion of hair of the population group living in an urbanized and

industrialized region of south-western Poland (Wrocaw). The

dependence of hair content on age, sex, tobacco smoking habits

and hair color was examined.

1382-6689/$ see front matter 2006 Published by Elsevier B.V.

doi:10.1016/j.etap.2005.11.006


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K. Chojnacka et al. / Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology 22 (2006) 5257 53

2. Materials and methods

2.1. Hair samples

The studied material was sampled in the years 19962003 from 83 subjects

living in an urban population group in south-western Poland (Wrocaw). Hair

(directly after washing with shampoo and drying) was sampled from nape of the

neck. Samples were washed using acetone and distilled water (Nowak, 1998).

Hair was digested and afterwards underwent multielemental analysis with ICP-

MS and ICP-AES.

2.2. Digestion of samples

Hair samples were digested in Microwave Digestion System CEM 2000

(USA) in closed Teflon bombs. Hair (ca. 1.3 g) was mineralized with concen-

trated nitric acid (7.5 ml). The reagent and digestion conditions were chosen in

Fig. 1. (ah) Concentrations of elements in human hair for 015 years (N= 8), 1525 years (N= 21), 2545 years (N= 29) and 4565 years (N= 25) of age (mg/kg).


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order to achieve complete mineralization and decomposition of solid phase into

liquid phase. All the used reagents were of trace pure grade (from Merck). After

digestion, the solutions were filled up to 75 ml with deionized water.

2.3. Analytical methods

The concentrations of 33 elements: Ca, Mg, Na, U, Cu, Zn, P, Fe, Mn, Cr,

Se, B, Co, Mo, Si, V, Ni, Be, Hg, Cd, Al, Pb, As, Ba, Au, Pt, Ag, Sr, Sn,

Ti, W, Sb and Zr in hair were determined. Multielemental analysis of digested

hairsampleswas performedwith inductively coupled plasma massspectrometry

(ICP-MS;VarianUltraMass 700, Australia) forthe elements,exceptalkalimetals

and alkaline earth metals, that were analyzed with inductively coupled plasma-

atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES; PU 7000 from Philips, Cambridge,

UK) connectedwith ultrasonic nebulizer CETAC (USA). The analytical process

was controlled by the use of matrix standard NCS Reference MaterialHuman

Hair NCS ZC81002 from China National Analysis Center. The samples were

Fig. 2. (ah) Concentrations of elements in female (F, N= 41) and male (M,N= 42) hair as well as in hair of non-smokers (N-S,N= 63) and smokers (S,N=20)

(mg/kg).


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K. Chojnacka et al. / Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology 22 (2006) 5257 55

Fig. 2. (Continued).

analyzed in three repeats (the relative standard deviation of the measurement

was as accepted for Certified Reference Material). Mercury was analyzed with

an atomic absorption mercury analyzer (AMA 254, Czech Republic).

3. Results and discussion

Hair analysis of 83 individualsliving in south-western Poland

was carried out. The statistical analysis, including multi-variant

analysis, was shown previously (Chojnacka et al., 2005). Table 1

presents mean values and standard deviations of the concen-

tration of 33 elements in hair (Chojnacka et al., 2005). When

comparing with reference ranges elaborated for an unexposed

population(Rodushkin and Axelssom, 2000), the concentrations

of Ag, Al, Ca and Na elements were higher in the examined sub-

jects.The studied population was divided into four age groups:

015 years (N= 8), 1525 years (N= 21), 2545 years (N=29)

and 4565 years (N= 25).Fig. 1shows mean concentration of

elements for each studied group. It was found that the level of

the majority of elements differed significantly between the age

groups (when comparing the average levels). Moreover, tenden-

cies of the variation in the content of elements were observed.

For this reason, the elements could be classified into the follow-

ing categories (years):

- (Ca) High level at

1545

Low level at 45

- (Na, K) High level at 45

Low level at 1545

- (P, Al, B, Pb, Fe, Cr,

Au, Pt, Sb, Be, W)

High level at 15

- (Cu, V, Sn) High level at >45 Low level at 25 Low level at


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children (


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the effect of age, sex, smoking habit and hair color on the composition of hair

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