Electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometric determination of selenium in blood serum and seminal fluid after protein precipitation with trichloroacetic acid

The determination of selenium in body fluids by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (e.a.a.s.) suffers from severe spectral interferences from phosphate which results in overcompensation when a continuum-source background corrector is used. The separation of selenium from phosphate by protein precipitation with trichloroacetic acid allows the determination of selenium in blood serum and seminal fluid by e.a.a.s. after thermal stabilization with silver, nickel or copper. The selenium concentration in seminal fluid from healthy, fertile Norwegian donors ranged from 0.09 to 1.30 μmol l^-1 with a group average of 0.44 μmol l^-1 (n = 15).