An Analytical Method for the Biomonitoring of Mercury in Bees and Beehive Products by Cold Vapor Atomic Fluorescence Spectrometry

• Main Authors: Maria Luisa Astolfi, Marcelo Enrique Conti, Martina Ristorini, Maria Agostina Frezzini, Marco Papi, Lorenzo Massimi, Silvia Canepari
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-08-01
• Series: Molecules
• Subjects: bees; beehive products; biomonitoring; cold vapor atomic fluorescence spectrometry; sample preparation; toxic metal
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/26/16/4878

Bees and their products are useful bioindicators of anthropogenic activities and could overcome the deficiencies of air quality networks. Among the environmental contaminants, mercury (Hg) is a toxic metal that can accumulate in living organisms. The first aim of this study was to develop a simple analytical method to determine Hg in small mass samples of bees and beehive products by cold vapor atomic fluorescence spectrometry. The proposed method was optimized for about 0.02 g bee, pollen, propolis, and royal jelly, 0.05 g beeswax and honey, or 0.1 g honeydew with 0.5 mL HCl, 0.2 mL HNO₃, and 0.1 mL H₂O₂ in a water bath (95 °C, 30 min); samples were made up to a final volume of 5 mL deionized water. The method limits sample manipulation and the reagent mixture volume used. Detection limits were lower than 3 µg kg⁻¹ for a sample mass of 0.02 g, and recoveries and precision were within 20% of the expected value and less than 10%, respectively, for many matrices. The second aim of the present study was to evaluate the proposed method’s performances on real samples collected in six areas of the Lazio region in Italy.