Chemical elements of human bone tissue investigated by nuclear analytical and related methods.

The mass fractions (in milligrams per kilogram given on a dry mass basis) of 69 chemical elements in the intact rib bone of 84 apparently healthy 15- to 58-year-old citizens (38 females and 46 males) of a nonindustrial region were investigated using five instrumental analytical methods: neutron activation analysis with high-resolution spectrometry of short- and of long-lived radionuclides, particle-induced gamma-ray emission spectrometry, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission, and mass spectrometry. The mass fractions of chemical elements were measured for rib bone of both males and females, taken separately and together. The present results indicate that rib bone can be used as exposure monitors in occupational medicine and environmental health studies to assess, or indicate, the body burden of Al, B, Ba, Be, Ca, Cr, F, Li, Mg, Na, Ni, P, Pb, rare-earth elements (REEs), Sr, and Zn. Our data show an exponential increase with the age of the content of REEs in the rib of people living in an ecologically safe region.