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Challenges in the accurate speciation analysis of selenium in humans: first report on indicative levels of selenoproteins in a serum certified reference material for total selenium (BCR-637)

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Abstract

Se is one of the most investigated essential trace elements in the past years, mostly due to its cancer prevention properties. Nevertheless, the accurate determination of its biologically active species, such as the selenoproteins (SeProt) in human serum, is currently a challenging task. This is because of the lack of appropriate quantification standards, certified reference materials (CRMs), and/or reference measurement methods. Additionally, most of the methods developed so far for the determination of SeProt were applied to the analysis of control (volunteers) serums, which are not available to other laboratories, therefore making methods inter-comparison virtually impossible. We present here for the first time indicative levels of SeProt in a commercially available human serum, namely the BCR-637 CRM with certified level of total Se. The concentrations of selenium associated with glutathione peroxidase (GPx), selenoprotein P (SelP) and selenoalbumin (SeAlb) in this serum were calculated using the results obtained by 13 different analytical methods (literature and non-published data) on the basis of (affinity) high-performance liquid chromatography (AF-HPLC) coupled to inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The indicative levels of SeProt in the BCR-637 serum can be used for validation of methods dealing with the determination of these proteins in human serum.

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Acknowledgments

This study is a contribution to the iMERA-Plus project (TRACEBIOACTIVITY) funded by the European Metrology Research Programme (EMRP). Dr. Michele Desenfant (LNE) is acknowledged for the scientific discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical and Inorganic Chemistry, Laboratoire National de Métrologie et d’Essais (LNE), 1 Gaston Boissier, 75015, Paris, France

    Petru Jitaru, Sophie Vaslin-Reimann & Paola Fisicaro

  2. Department of Environmental Sciences, University Ca’ Foscari of Venice, Dorsoduro 2137, 30123, Venice, Italy

    Marco Roman & Carlo Barbante

  3. Institute for the Dynamics of Environmental Processes (IDPA-CNR), Dorsoduro 2137, 30123, Venice, Italy

    Carlo Barbante

Authors
  1. Petru Jitaru
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  2. Marco Roman
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  3. Carlo Barbante
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  4. Sophie Vaslin-Reimann
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  5. Paola Fisicaro
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Correspondence to Petru Jitaru.

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Jitaru, P., Roman, M., Barbante, C. et al. Challenges in the accurate speciation analysis of selenium in humans: first report on indicative levels of selenoproteins in a serum certified reference material for total selenium (BCR-637). Accred Qual Assur 15, 343–350 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00769-010-0637-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00769-010-0637-1

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