(89a) Low-Level Metal Toxicology in Serum Via Anodic Stripping Voltammetry

In recent years, the risk of exposure to heavy metals has risen globally due to increased anthropogenic processes and rapid industrialization.¹ To this effect, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that deaths caused by exposure to hazardous chemicals rose 29% between 2016 and 2019.² Though preventable, toxic metal exposures in remote or medically-poor areas go largely underreported due to the lack of rapid and inexpensive testing³. Electrochemical methods of metal detection have often been used for their sensitivity in water, however, their capacity directly in complex biological samples has yet to be extensively explored. In this work, detection of copper (Cu) and lead (Pb) metal in serum was conducted via anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV). The developed rapid serum-digest method allows for results within 4 hours of sample collection time without losses in sensitivity. Stripping parameters such as deposition potential and scan rate were optimized to allow for detection at physiologically-relevant concentrations. Lower limits of detection in serum were experimentally determined to be within the physiologically relevant range (ppm). Given these outcomes, the sensing platform provides the basis for low-cost, rapid point-of-care toxic metal detection allowing frequent testing to become more accessible for vulnerable populations.

Citations

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(2)New data on the public health impact of chemicals: knowns and unknowns

https://www.who.int/news/item/06-07-2021-new-data-on-the-public-health-i...

knowns-and-unknowns (accessed 2022 -04 -11).

(3)Rees, N.; Fuller, R. The Toxic Truth: Children’s Exposure to Lead Pollution

Undermines a Generation of Future Potential the Toxic Truth: Children’s Exposure to

Lead Pollution Undermines a Generation of Future Potential.