Determination of selenium in human body fluids by hydride-generation atomic absorption spectrometry : Optimization of sample decomposition

The accuracy of the determination of selenium in human body fluids by hydride-generation a.a.s. depends critically upon the sample decomposition-method used. Digestion with HNO₃ alone gave low selenium recoveries, but with nitric, sulfuric and perchloric acids at a final temperature of 310°C gave results that agreed with those obtained by other techniques. The recovery of selenomethionine added to whole blood and of trimethylselenonium iodide added to urine was 97–104%. The average selenium values found for 6 healthy individuals were 88 μg l^?1 in whole blood, 75 μg l^?1 in blood plasma and 307 μg (kg Hb)^?1 in erythrocytes. A detection limit of 5 μg l^?1 Se in body fluids was found under routine conditions.