Elemental Analysis of Human Hair by LA-ICP-MS

Chemical analysis of hair can be used to evaluate the diet, exposure to contaminants and toxicants, and drug usage of an individual or population. In addition, hair has been used to assess metal body burden in occupational exposure cases. This application note presents a laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometric method for the quantification of trace metals in human hair that eliminates the need for sample preparation (e.g., washing).