Potentialities of total reflection X-ray fluorescence spectrometry in environmental contamination: Hair of owned dogs as sentinel of arsenic exposure

Arsenic concentrations in dog hair were measured in 50 pets living in Barrio Los Alamos, La Matanza district, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. The aim of this work was to study the potential use of domestic canine hair as a biomarker of chronic exposure to arsenic by total reflection X-ray fluorescence spectrometry. Arsenic quantification in the samples was performed after a simple sample preparation procedure consisting in an in situ microwave digestion. Independently of genre, age and breed, hair of dogs from Los Alamos had significantly higher arsenic concentrations compared to a set of 10 dogs used as controls coming from an arsenic-free area. These levels found in hair (24 ± 2 μg As gDW− 1) indicate chronic exposure of dogs and suggest a similar situation in cohabitant humans. Results of this study encourage the potential use of pets as monitor targets of environmental metal contamination.