THE DETERMINATION OF LEAD IN WHOLE-BLOOD BY LASER-ENHANCED IONIZATIONUSING A COMBINATION OF ELECTROTHERMAL VAPORIZER AND FLAME

A system for electrothermal vaporization - laser enhanced ionization s pectrometry (ETV-LEIS), developed in this laboratory, was used for the determination of lead concentrations in whole blood. Blood standards from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) were diluted 21 : 1 with ultrapure water and analyzed. Good agreement was found between the CDC and NIST standards. A linear analytical curve was obtained with a detection lim it (3a) of 8.9 x 10(-3) mu g dl(-1) (890 fg absolute) for lead in whol e blood. This compares favorably with other current methods for blood- lead determinations including isotope dilution inductively coupled mas s spectrometry (ID-ICP-MS) and graphite furnace atomic absorption spec trometry (GFAAS).