Comparison of Clinical Methods with Isotope Dilution ICP-MS for the New Standard Reference Material 955c Lead In Caprine Blood

Published

May 26, 2009

Author(s)

Karen E. Murphy, Thomas W. Vetter, Gregory C. Turk, Christopher D. Palmer, Miles E. Lewis, Ciaran M. Geraghty, Patrick J. Parsons, William F. Guthrie

Abstract

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed Standard Reference Material (SRM) 955c, a new caprine-based, four-level blood standard with certified blood lead levels (BLLs) ranging from 0.4 µg/dL (0.02 µmol/L) Pb to 45 µg/dL (2.17 µmol/L) Pb. Certified values are based on ID-ICP-MS. Strict control and accurate measurement of the procedure blank was necessary to minimize uncertainty for the lowest level (Level 1) and obtain a relative expanded uncertainty (k = 2) of 2.6 %. Level 1 is intended to represent a baseline BLL and provides a means to define detection levels and validate methods developed to measure background contaminate Pb levels in blood. The standard has been developed in collaboration with the Wadsworth Center, New York Department of Health, which provided values based on GFAAS and ICP-MS. Results from these clinical methods are statistically compared to the ID values. The comparison indicates a small but statistically significant low bias in the GFAAS and ICP-MS data at the higher blood lead levels, but excellent agreement near 10 µg/dL (0.48 µmol/L), the current threshold defined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for public health action and clinical follow up. The Level 1 standard is below the detection limit of the GFAAS method. Comparison of Level 1 results for the ICP-MS method with the ID-ICP-MS values showed the methods were not in disagreement, indicating that the ICP-MS method is very capable of measuring BLLs at environmental concentrations.

Citation

Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

“Blood”, “Lead”, “Reference Material”, “Isotope Dilution”, “Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry”, “atomic absorption spectrometry”

Citation

Murphy, K. , Vetter, T. , Turk, G. , Palmer, C. , Lewis, M. , Geraghty, C. , Parsons, P. and Guthrie, W. (2009), Comparison of Clinical Methods with Isotope Dilution ICP-MS for the New Standard Reference Material 955c Lead In Caprine Blood, Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry (Accessed October 4, 2025)