Validation of X-Ray Fluorescence-Measured Swine Femur Lead Against Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

Abstract

Reproduced with permission from Environmental Health Perspectives. DOI:10.1289/ehp.011091115The aim of this study was to apply the technique of 109Cd-based K-shell X-ray fluorescence (XRF) bone lead measurements to swine femurs and to validate the concentrations obtained therefrom against an independent chemical measurement of bone lead: atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS). The femurs ranged in lead concentration from 1.0 to 24.5 µg of lead per gram of ashed bone, as measured by AAS. On average, XRF overestimated AAS-measured femur lead by 2.6 µg/g [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.1-4.0 µg/g], approximately 2 µg/g poorer than that observed in studies of human tibiae. Measurements of swine femur and, by extension, of nonhuman bones may require adjustment of the XRF spectrum peak extraction method.This study was supported by grants ES05697, ES06616, and ES07198 from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health of the U.S. Public Health Services Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NIEHS or NIH