Evidence for various calcium sites in human hair shaft revealed by sub-micrometer X-ray fluorescence.

New information about calcium status in human scalp hair shaft, deduced from X-ray micro-fluorescence imaging, including its distribution over the hair section, the existence of one or several binding-types and its variation between people, is presented. The existence of two different calcium types is inferred. The first one corresponds to atoms (or ions) easily removable by hydrochloric acid, located in the cortex (granules), in the cuticle zone and also in the core of the medulla, which can reasonably be identified as calcium soaps. The second type consists of non-easily removable calcium atoms (or ions) that are located in the medulla wall, probably also in the cuticle, and rather uniformly in the cortex; these calcium atoms may be involved in Ca(2+)-binding proteins, and their concentration is fairly constant from one subject to another. In addition to its nonuniform distribution across the hair section, the second striking feature of the first type calcium content is its high variability from one subject to another, by up to a factor 10. We expect this information to be useful for analyzing in more detail the relationship between hair calcium and environmental and medical factors.