J. Prejac, V. Višnjević, A. Skalny
Jul 1, 2017
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Influential Citations
6
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Quality indicators
Journal
Journal of trace elements in medicine and biology : organ of the Society for Minerals and Trace Elements
Abstract
Strontium (Sr) is a trace element that closely resembles calcium metabolism. At the present time there is no available long-term biological indicator tissue for assessing the human Sr nutritional status. Here we have presented a novel concept on how to assess the Sr nutritional status by studying the frequency distribution properties of hair Sr (SrH) concentration. In this prospective, observational, cross-sectional, and exploratory epidemiological study, we analyzed SrH in 311 apparently healthy adult Croatians (123 men, 188 women). Hair strontium was analyzed by the ICP-MS. The natural frequency distribution of SrH followed the Power law, so that the data were analyzed by fitting the logistic bioassay sigmoid curve (ogive) of median derivatives. Women tend to accumulate three and a half time more SrH than men (median men 867ngg-1 vs. median women 3120ngg-1). The normal (adequate) linear physiological response range of the sigmoid curve was 351-3489ngg-1 for men and 846-8457ngg-1 for women. Values below that linear range are considered to indicate deficient Sr nutritional status, whereas values above that linear range indicate excessive strontium exposure. Hair, as a long-term, and whole blood as a short-term biological indicator tissues were not commensurable entities. Similarly, SrH accumulation was not age dependent in either men or women. Hair strontium is a reliable long-term biological indicator tissue for assessing the strontium nutritional status.