Boron element plays an important role for our country since approximately 70% of the world&rsquo / s reserves are in Turkey. It is widely used in different areas of industry. Besides being vital for the plants, it is important also for human health. It has been shown that high boron exposure does not affect fertility negatively and also with an increasing boron exposure, risk of prostate and cervical cancers decreases. There are different opinions regarding health effects of boron. There are both positive and negative findings. Therefore, determination of boron in body fluids such as urine and blood is necessary to monitor exposed concentration level and its relation with diseases. Furthermore, these studies may contribute to define a reference value for safe maximum daily boron intake.
In this study, a method previously developed by our research group was applied for the determination of boron in urine samples. Urine and blood samples were collected from human subjects living or working in different regions of Balikesir where boron reserves are located. While urine analysis was done by using Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES), due to lower concentrations of boron in blood, Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used for blood analysis. A sensitive method was developed using ICP-MS.
Samples were digested in microwave oven by applying optimized digestion procedures. Indium (In) and Beryllium (Be) internal standards were spiked into the urine and blood samples, respectively. A sample introduction system containing no glass or silica surfaces was used in ICP-MS to eliminate boron memory effect. Two isotopes of the boron, 10B and 11B, were monitored during the study. Space charge effect due to Na+ ion and carbon interference on B and Be signals was investigated in detail. Limit of Detection was 0.021 mg/L for ICP-OES and it was 2.2 µ / g/L for ICP-MS. The accuracies of the methods were checked by using NIST 1573a Tomato Leaves and BCR Human Hair certified reference materials for urine and blood, respectively.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:METU/oai:etd.lib.metu.edu.tr:http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/3/12611499/index.pdf |
| Date | 01 January 2010 |
| Creators | Bora, Selin |
| Contributors | Ataman, O. Yavuz |
| Publisher | METU |
| Source Sets | Middle East Technical Univ. |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | M.S. Thesis |
| Format | text/pdf |
| Rights | To liberate the content for public access |
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