A CRITICAL-REVIEW ON NORMAL CONCENTRATIONS OF VANADIUM IN HUMAN BLOOD, SERUM, AND URINE

An evaluation of published values for 'normal' concentrations of vanad ium levels in human blood, serum, and urine have been determined in or der to identify the reasons for existing large variations of these val ues. The published data were scrutinized according to criteria on samp ling and analysis developed for the TRACY (EUREKA; ENVIRON(1)) project which aims at establishing reference values for persons without occup ational exposure to metals. Of the sampling factors, living in environ mentally polluted areas, contamination-free sampling and sample handli ng were found to be highly important. Expert experience is needed for the accurate vanadium determination in these fluids using well defined radiochemical neutron activation analysis (RNAA) or NAA with pre-irra diation separation or graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GF-AAS). RNAA is superior for this purpose. Lack of suitable referenc e materials is a severe handicap in assessing accuracy of vanadium det erminations at low levels. Although no reference values for vanadium a re established, it appears that values, around 1 nmol l(-1) for blood and serum and around 10 nmol l(-1) or slightly lower for urine may be considered tentative normal values.