Atomic absorption spectrophotometric determination of selenium concentrations in hair and nails of residents in Wassa West District of Ghana

Abstract

Human hair and nail samples collected from the subjects of Wassa West District were analysed for the levels of selenium using atomic absorption spectrophotometric technique. Selenium levels in hair ranged from (0.50- 1.53) ìg/g with a mean of 0.94 ± 0.21 ìg/g. Levels in control subjects ranged from (0.74 - 0.8) ìg/g with a me-an of 0.82 ± 0.03 ìg/g. Significant differences existed between the levels of Se in the field subjects and control subjects (p = 0.003 < 0.05). Selenium in nail of field subjects ranged from (0.52-0.85) ìg/g with a mean of 0.70 ± 0.09 ìg/g, and for the control subjects ranged from (0.56-0.82) ìg/g, with a mean of 0.70 ± 0.10 ìg/g. No significant difference existed between the field and control subjects (p = 0.48 > 0.05). The measurement precis-ion specified by the relative standard deviation was within ± 4 %, while the accuracy of determination evaluated by analysing certified standard human hair reference material GBW 09101 was within ± 5 % of the certified value.