Abstract
The concentrations of calcium, sodium, zinc, potassium, magnesium, copper and iron in fingernails of 18 males aged 40 to 49 years collected during period of July to September and January to March were determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy. Furthermore, fingernail collections were made periodically on one 43-year-old male over 21 months.
The mean concentrations of 7 elements in fingernails of 18 male subjects were not significantly variation among months collected from July to September, but samples collected from January to March were significantly different in the concentrations of Ca, Na and Cu in the nails collected from February compared to that of the other months.
Of the mean content of seven elements in the fingernails of one 43-year-old male over 21 months, the concentration of Na was the highest, followed by Ca, K, Mg, Zn, Fe and Cu. The concentrations of Ca and K tends to increase in the nails collected during period of October to December while Ca was observed to decrease during period of March to May. However, the rest of the elements did not any systematic trends in the variations. The Na/K ratio was higher in the periods from December to May.
Signficant correlations of Na-K and Ca-Mg were observed in both studies of 18 males and one male subjects.
The results of this study can be used as basic data for element study in fingernails. However, a great deal more data in required from extensive studies of a large number of cases to clearly establish chronological variation for human fingernails.
