Desarrollo de un método analítico voltampe­rométrico para la cuantificación de mercurio en orina

Manuel Chavez-Ruiz; Ruddy Mesa-Landeo; Lenin Rueda-Torres; Betsabe  Ruffner-Camargo; Sabir Khan

doi:10.17843/rpmesp.2026.431.14912

Authors

Manuel Chavez-Ruiz Centro Nacional de Salud Ocupacional y Protección del Ambiente para la Salud (CENSOPAS), Instituto Nacional de Salud, Lima, Perú https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9693-024X
Ruddy Mesa-Landeo Centro Nacional de Salud Ocupacional y Protección del Ambiente para la Salud (CENSOPAS), Instituto Nacional de Salud, Lima, Perú https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5994-6931
Lenin Rueda-Torres Centro Nacional de Salud Ocupacional y Protección del Ambiente para la Salud (CENSOPAS), Instituto Nacional de Salud, Lima, Perú https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5685-6658
Betsabe Ruffner-Camargo Centro Nacional de Salud Ocupacional y Protección del Ambiente para la Salud (CENSOPAS), Instituto Nacional de Salud, Lima, Perú https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4288-5578
Sabir Khan Universidade Federal Rural do Semi-Arido, Centro de Engenharia, Rio Grande do Norte, Brasil. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4557-238X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17843/rpmesp.2026.431.14912

Keywords:

Mercury, Electrochemistry, Urine, Biomarkers

Abstract

Mercury exposure poses a critical public health challenge, highlighting the need for accurate and portable analytical methods for its biomonitoring. This experimental analytical study develops an analytical method and evaluates the performance of square wave anodic stripping voltammetry (VRAO) for quantifying mercury in urine. To this end, the operating conditions of the VRAO system were optimized through testing
with standard mercury solutions. Commercial urine (BIO-RAD®) pretreated with nitric acid was used. Linearity, precision, accuracy, and the limits of detection (LDD) and quantification (LDC) were evaluated. The results showed high accuracy, with a relative standard deviation (%RSD) of 6.21. Furthermore, the accuracy analysis revealed no significant differences between VRAO and the cold vapor atomic absorption (AAVF) method (p = 0.2601). The LDD and LDC values were 0.68 and 2.2 μg L⁻¹, respectively. These findings suggest that VRAO is an accurate method, comparable to AAVF, for detecting mercury in urine under controlled laboratory conditions. Further studies are needed to assess its applicability in real-world population biomonitoring settings.

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