from hair to eternity: what can your locks say about you?

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From Hair to Eternity: What Can Your Locks Say About You? Firhan A. Malik (BSc. Biochemistry Thesis)

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Outline

n  Importance of Trace Metals and Use of Hair Strands

n  Procedure and Use of ICP-MS n  Results and Statistics n  Conclusions n  Future Directions n  Acknowledgements

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Iron (Fe)

n  Synergistic with Vitamin C and nickel n  Increase in concentration leads to ↓pH in stomach n  Primarily involved in RBC production by forming

hemoglobin Ca

↕ Zn ↔ Fe ↔ Mg

↑ P

http://www.acu-cell.com

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Zinc (Zn)

n  Component of more than 100 enzymes n  Involved in metabolism (thyroid hormone) and DNA/RNA

synthesis n  Part of superoxide dismutase (SOD) to help protect cells

from free radical damage n  Increases proliferation of T-lymphocytes n  Maintains levels of testosterone n  In animals, related to insulin metabolism

http://www.acu-cell.com

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Nickel (Ni): The Good News n  Synergistic relationship with

Vitamin C n  Aids in blood clotting n  Even found to prevent

gallstones n  Can decrease oxidative

damage when present with Vitamin C

Salacinski HJ and O’Brien P. 2000. Evidence that the reactions of nickel in the presence of vitamin C do not produce toxic oxygen intermediates such as hydroxyl but ascorbate and carbon radicals. Arch. Toxicol. 74:5-12

Denkaus E and Salnikow K. 2002. Nickel essentiality, toxicity and carcinogenicity. 42:35-56.

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Ni: The Bad News n  A carcinogen n  Can form DNA-protein

crosslinks leading to chromosomal aberrations when present as a sulfide

n  Has high affinity for chromatin proteins

n  When inhaled as nickel carbonyl it causes epithelial damage in the lungs

n  Inhibits tumor suppressors (FHIT)

Chakarabarti SK et al. 2001. DNA-protein crosslinks induced by nickel compounds in isolated rat lymphocytes: role of reactive oxygen species and specific amino acids. Toxicol. App. Pharmacol. 170:153-165

Kowara R et al. 2004. Reduced FHIT protein expression in nickel transformed mouse cells and in nickel-induced murine sarcomas. Mol. And Cell. Biochemistry. 255:195-202.

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Ni, Hair and Sudbury

n  Study conducted in 1975 by Dr. D.E. Goldsack and team at Laurentian University

n  Found that the distance from stack directly proportional [Ni] in hair

Goldsack DE and Niebor E. 1975. Nickel content of human hair as an index of environmental exposure to nickel in the Sudbury basin. (unpublished)

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Ni, Hair and Sudbury


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Why use hair?

n  Less subjective to internal biochemical changes (stability)

n  Can track long-term and chronic exposure (months to years)

n  More economical for larger scale epidemiological studies n  Used extensively in forensics and drug analysis n  No pain (well depends on sobriety of researcher)

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Goals 1.  To perform an updated trace metal in hair analysis

using the 1975 study as a basis. Expand to include 30 elemental trace metals.

2.  Examine how health status, biological identity (age, sex) and nutrition correlate with trace metal concentration.

3.  Examine how area of residence correlates with trace metal concentration.

4.  Form a standardized procedure for biological sample analysis using ICP-MS.

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Let’s bring it all together

Trace Metals in Hair

Nutrition and Diet

Health Status Area of Residence

Age Gender

Type of Shampoo Hair Dye

Employment

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Procedure

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Results and Statistics

“You can use statistics to prove anything. 98% of all people know that.” Homer J. Simpson

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Gender War n  For N=366 and significant at p<0.01 (Pearson’s two-tail):

n  Females have higher amounts of Mg, Ca, Ti, Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, and Ba Effect of Gender on Metal Content

-80%

-60%

-40%

-20%

0%

20%

40%

B Mg Al Ca Ti V Cr Mn Fe Ni Cu Zn Sr Cd Ba Pb

Trace Metal

% D

iffer

ence

from

Pop

ulat

ion

Mea

n

Female % Diff(n=247)

Male % Diff(n=117)

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The darker the hair the better? Effect of Hair Colour on Metal Content

-100%

0%

100%

200%

300%

400%

500%

B Mg Al Ca Ti V Cr Mn Fe Ni Cu Zn Sr Cd Ba Pb

Trace Metal

% D

iffer

ence

from

Pop

ulat

ion

Mea

n

Black % Diff(n=26)Brown % Diff(n=259)Blond % Diff(n=58)Gray % Diff(n=8)Red % Diff(n=7)

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Age Before Beauty

n  Positive correlation between amount of Mg and age (N=361 and significant at p < 0.01)

n  Magnesium tends to increase with age

n  Negative correlation between amount of Cr + Cu and age (significant at p < 0.05)

n  Hence, Cu tends to decrease with age (similar to other studies)

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Metallic Attraction Tree Diagram for 16 Variables

Single Linkage1-Pearson r

0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9

Linkage Distance

Mn55_ppmFe57_ppm

Pb207_ppmCu63_ppmNi60_ppmAl27_ppmCr52_ppmZn66_ppmV51_ppmTi49_ppm

Ba137_ppmSr88_ppmCa43_ppmMg26_ppm

Cd111_ppmB11_ppm

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Metallic Attraction n  Correlations significant at p < 0.01 between amount of Ni in hair and

Cr + Cu + Zn + Pb n  Suggests hair strands containing large amounts of Ni also contained

large amounts of Cr, Cu, Zn and Pb

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Urban Effect

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Home is where the metals are? Trace metal content in hair from residents of selected communities

-100%

-80%

-60%

-40%

-20%

0%

20%

40%

Cr Fe Ni Cu Zn Pb

Trace Metal

% D

iffer

ence

from

Pop

ulat

ion

Mea

n

Azilda

Chelmsford

Elliot Lake

Sudbury

Toronto-area

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The Good ‘Ol Days?

2004 - 05

1975


Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy

ICP-MS

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INCO Cleanup = Less Metals

Courtesy of G.A. Spiers

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Health Status and Metals

n  Our preliminary results show (N=366): •  Correlation between the amount of Cr in hair and cancer (significant

at p < 0.01) •  Correlation between the amount of Cr in hair and heart disease +

hypertension (significant at p < 0.01) •  Correlation between the amount of Sr and Ba in hair and

hypertension (significant at p < 0.01) •  Correlation between the amount of Pb in hair and whether or not

subject is a smoker (significant at p < 0.05) •  Correlation between the amount of Al in hair and length of smoking

period (significant at p < 0.05)

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n  Our preliminary results also show: §  For those who selected gray as their natural hair color, there was a

correlation with bone metabolism disorders (significant at p<0.01). Moreover, there was also a correlation with Ni (significant at p<0.01).

§  For those who selected blonde as their natural hair color there was a correlation with bone metabolism disorders (significant at p<0.01).

§  Males had a correlation between the concentration of V and the prevalence of cancer (significant at p<0.01).

§  Males had a correlation between the concentration of B, Ti, V, Cr and Zn and the prevalence of epilepsy (significant at p<0.01).

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n  Our preliminary results also show: •  Male smokers displayed a correlation with the concentration of Mn

in their hair (significant at p<0.01).

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Hair and Breast Cancer n  Cr levels are higher in breast cancer patients’ hair n  Mn levels are lower in breast cancer patients’ hair relative to control

groups n  Malignant breast cancer tissue had high levels of Zn, Cu, Se and Fe n  Cu/Zn ratio higher in breast cancer tissue relative to healthy tissue

Shamberger RJ. 2002. Validity of hair mineral testing. Biol. Trace. Elem. Res. 87:1-28.

Kuo HW et al. 2002. Serum and tissue trace elements in patients with breast cancer in Taiwan. Biol. Trace Elem. Res. 89(1):1-11.

Killic E et al. 2004. Chromium and manganese levels in scalp hair of normals and patients with breast cancer. Biol. Trace Elem. Res. 102(1-3):19-26.

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Conclusions n  Large scale epidemiological

studies are possible using hair analysis.

n  Hair analysis for risk assessment is cheap.

n  There are definite correlations with age, gender, hair color, residence and health status.

n  ICP-MS is a good analytical instrument for trace metal analysis of biological samples.

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Where do we go next? n  Possible analysis of samples

taken from patients (heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, cancer)

n  “Food-basket” surveys n  Compare short-term versus long-

term exposure using urine analysis

n  Collect more samples from outside of Sudbury and surrounding region

n  Form correlations with soil analysis – determine the contribution of dust on trace metal content

from hair to eternity: what can your locks say about you?

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