Arsenic Content in Inactive Tissue: Human Hair and Nail
M. A. Rakib
Department of Disaster Management, Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur, Bangladesh.
M. E. Huda
Department of Environmental Sciences, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
S. M. Hossain
Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, Atomic Energy Research Establishment (AERE), G.P.O Box No.-3787, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
K. Naher
Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, Atomic Energy Research Establishment (AERE), G.P.O Box No.-3787, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Rahat Khan
Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, Atomic Energy Research Establishment (AERE), G.P.O Box No.-3787, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
M. S. Sultana
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Rajshahi University, Rajshahi, Bangladesh.
M. S. Akter
Department of Statistics, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Mohammad A. H. Bhuiyan
Department of Environmental Sciences, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Masum A Patwary *
School of Science and Engineering, Teesside University, Borough Road, Middlesbrough, TS1 3BA, UK and Geography and Environmental Science, Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur, Bangladesh.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Nuclear reactor based Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) method was applied for the determination of arsenic content in human scalp hair, nail and water samples at the south western part of Bangladesh. Average Arsenic (As) content in male and female hair samples were 0.93 μg/g and 3.71 μg/g respectively and also As content in nail samples for male and female were 1.40 μg/g and 2.03 μg/g respectively. A significant correlation in hair and nail for male (r = 0.615) and female (r = 0.728) were observed. This correlation indicated higher affinity to accumulate in external tissue of human body with exposure time. On the other hand, a significant correlation (r = 0.79 and r = 0.72; p = 0.01) was found in female hair and nail As c content in relation to water content (average 0.89 μg/g). Similar association (r = 0.49 and r = 0.53; p = 0.01) was observed in both matrices for male with water content at the significance level of correlation coefficient. More than 20% people of study area were arsenic affected due to highly contamination of groundwater. Arsenic in both matrices were relatively higher, compare to World Health Organization (WHO) recommended value (>1 µg/g). Results indicated that arsenic content in human hair and nail were greater inconsistency perspective to gender variation.
Keywords: Arsenic, hair, nail, tube-well water, neutron activation analysis technique