A simple method for direct mercury analysis in dried blood spots (DBS) samples for human biomonitoring studies

Human exposure to mercury can have serious health effects, especially in vulnerable groups such as children and fetuses. The use of dried blood spot (DBS) samples to collect capillary blood greatly facilitates sample collection and fieldwork, being a less invasive alternative to blood collection by venipuncture, needing a small volume of sample, and does not require specialized medical staff. Moreover, DBS sampling reduces logistical and financial barriers related to transport and storage of blood samples. We propose here a novel method to analyze total mercury in DBS samples in a Direct Mercury Analyzer (DMA) that allow the control of the volume of the DBS samples. This method has shown good results in terms of precision (