Determination of essential elements in total blood samples

In this work, the main figures of merit in the essential metal determination by using high resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry are discussed. This technique performance is compared with quadrupole results found in literature. The quantification process was evaluated with detection limit, stability and precision, in two resolution conditions (R=300 and R=3000). The residual analysis allows the linear and the weight (w=1/s and w= 1/s(x)) regression models. The certified reference material (IAEA-A13) checks the accuracy. The Mg, Cu, Zn, Rb and Pb (R=300 and R=3000) and the Fe (R=3000) results agree with the certified values. (author)