A Survey on the Accumulation of Trace Metals in Local Fishermen Hair from the Northern Persian Gulf

The concentrations of trace metals in hair of fishermen from the Persian Gulf region were assessed todetect the relationships between element levels in hair and potential factors influencing these relationships.The hair of 19 fishermen were sampled from six stations in the Persian Gulf (Nirogah, Dayyer, Lengeh and Bandar Abbas in Khuzestan, Bushehr and Hormozgan provincesanalyzed by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry inductively (ICP-MS) and Cold VaporAtomic Absorption Spectrometer to detect the trace metals and mercury levels, respectively.In this study we did not find significant correlation between fish diet and hair element levels, except formercury (r=0.74, P=0.01). Our results demonstrated that the average concentrations of Cr, As and V indifferent stations were almost comparable, while the accumulation of Cu, Zn, Pb and Co in hair samplesfrom Lengeh were much higher than those of other regions. Statistical analysis demonstrated that apositivly strong significant correlation (p<0.05) existed between V, Cr, Co, Cu and Zn concentrations inthe human hair, which might have been originated from similar sources. The accumulation levels of Cd,Cu and Cr in our results were much lower than the corresponding accepted levels. The hair samplescontained arsenic in high concentrations, as against arsenic level in normal healthy hair. Ninty percent ofAbadan, Deylam, Bushehr-) anddetected Pb levels were below 110 μg gand As could be used as marker of environmental exposure.-1 as dangerous level. Among the detected elements in hair, Pb, Ni