GFAAS determination of mercury in muscle samples of fish from Amazon, Brazil

Paula M Moraes; Felipe A Santos; Bruna Cavecci; Cilene C F Padilha; José C S Vieira; Paulo S Roldan; Pedro de M Padilha

doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2013.05.008

GFAAS determination of mercury in muscle samples of fish from Amazon, Brazil

Food Chem. 2013 Dec 1;141(3):2614-7. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2013.05.008. Epub 2013 May 17.

Authors

Paula M Moraes¹, Felipe A Santos, Bruna Cavecci, Cilene C F Padilha, José C S Vieira, Paulo S Roldan, Pedro de M Padilha

Affiliation

¹ UNESP - São Paulo State University, Biosciences Institute, Botucatu, SP, Brazil.

PMID: 23871002
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2013.05.008

Abstract

In the present study, a simple, rapid and sensitive method was developed for the determination of mercury concentrations in the muscle tissue of fish from the Brazilian Amazon using graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS) following acid mineralization of the samples in an ultrasonic cold water bath. Using copper nitrate as a chemical modifier in solution and sodium tungstate as permanent modifier, we were able to attain thermal stabilization of the mercury up to the atomisation temperature of 1600 °C in the GFAAS assay. The calculated limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) were 0.014 and 0.047 mg kg(-1), respectively.

Keywords: Amazon fish; Chemical modifier; GFAAS; Mercury in fish; Permanent modifier.

Publication types

Evaluation Study
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Brazil
Fishes
Food Contamination / analysis
Limit of Detection
Mercury / analysis*
Muscle, Skeletal / chemistry*
Seafood / analysis*
Spectrophotometry, Atomic / methods*

Substances

Mercury