Graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry as a routine method for the quantification of beryllium in blood and serum

In serum, both modifiers did not improve the method sensitivity, the optimal pyrolysis and atomization temperatures are 1000°C and 2900°C, respectively. In blood, 6 μg of magnesium nitrate was found to improve the method sensitivity. The optimal pyrolysis and atomization temperatures were 800°C and 2800°C respectively.In serum, the method detection limit was 2 ng l-1, the characteristic mass was 0.22 (± 0.07) pg and the accuracy ranged from 95 to 100%. In blood, the detection limit was 7 ng l-1, the characteristic mass was 0.20 (± 0.02) pg and the accuracy ranged from 99 to 101%.Beryllium is the 35th most abundant element in the earth's crust, with an average of 6 mg kg-1 [1]. It has unique physical and chemical properties that improves the characteristics of alloys producing greater tensile strength, high electrical and thermal conductivity, along with good corrosion and fatigue resistance [2]. Beryllium and its metal alloys have been widely used for electrical equipment, electronic instrumentation, structural components for aircraft, missiles, satellites and nuclear reactors [3,4].Beryllium and its compounds are very toxic. They can cause chronic beryllium disease (CBD), a lung disorder initiated by an electrostatic interaction with the MHC class II human leukocyte antigen (HLA) [5]. Recent molecular epidemiological studies found a significant correlation between the risk of developing CBD and the predicted surface electrostatic potential of the HLA-DP alleles, suggesting that individuals who carry the most negatively charged alleles are at greater risk of beryllium sensitization and CBD [6]. Because of these findings, increased research efforts are being targeted towards the development of a CBD treatment by chelation therapy [7,8]. For that purpose, a routine method is required to analyse beryllium in micro samples of biological fluids with high sensitivity, accuracy, and low detection limits.The commonly used methods for the determination of beryllium in tissue