FREE SHIPPING over $40
OVER 9000 FIVE-STAR REVIEWS
5% OFF ALL SUBSCRIPTIONS
100% HAPPINESS GUARANTEE
Analyze Diet
0
Home / Equine Research Bank / J Vet Diagn Invest / Evaluation of hair analysis for determination of trace miner...
Journal of veterinary diagnostic investigation : official publication of the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians, Inc2022; 34(6); 1000-1005; doi: 10.1177/10406387221116069

Evaluation of hair analysis for determination of trace mineral status and exposure to toxic heavy metals in horses in the Netherlands.

Abstract: Analysis of hair to gain insight into the trace mineral status and exposure to toxic heavy metals of horses is attractive because hair is an easily accessible sample material. To investigate the potential value of hair analysis in horses for determination of trace mineral and heavy metal concentrations, we analyzed mane hair and liver samples from 62 horses presented for slaughter at a facility in the Netherlands that receives horses from all regions of the country. Hair samples were cleaned in warm water. After acid digestion of hair and liver specimens, we quantified, with inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, iron, lead, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, selenium, vanadium, and zinc in the digests. Based on Pearson product moment correlations, we found no statistically significant correlations between concentrations of trace minerals in liver and hair, with the exception of a slight correlation for copper that was too weak to be of clinical relevance. Our results do not support the use of hair to determine trace mineral status and exposure to toxic heavy metals in the horse under field conditions.
Get Full Text
Publication Date: 2022-08-02 PubMed ID: 35918902PubMed Central: PMC9597333DOI: 10.1177/10406387221116069Google Scholar: Lookup
The Equine Research Bank provides access to a large database of publicly available scientific literature. Inclusion in the Research Bank does not imply endorsement of study methods or findings by Mad Barn.
LinkedInCopy
  • Journal Article

Summary

This research summary has been generated with artificial intelligence and may contain errors and omissions. Refer to the original study to confirm details provided. Submit correction.

The research investigates the effectiveness of using hair samples in determining the exposure of horses to toxic heavy metals and their trace mineral status, concluding that hair analysis may lack the requisite precision for these assessments.

Objective and Methodology

  • The researchers’ objective was to determine whether the analysis of horse hair could provide insight into horses’ exposure to toxic heavy metals and trace mineral status.
  • The study involved the analysis of mane hair and liver samples from 62 horses presented for slaughter at a facility in the Netherlands.
  • Using warm water, hair samples were cleaned and then, both hair and liver specimens underwent acid digestion.
  • The presence and quantities of a range of toxic heavy metals and trace minerals were identified in these samples using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry.

Findings and Conclusion

  • The investigation did not find significant correlations between the concentrations of trace minerals in the liver and hair of horses.
  • There was a minor correlation for copper, but it was weak and deemed clinically insignificant.
  • The researchers concluded that the results do not endorse the use of hair samples to determine the status of trace mineral and exposure to toxic heavy metals in horses under field conditions.
  • This could imply a limitation to the utility of hair analysis for such purposes, and suggests the need for other sampling techniques for accurate determination.

Cite This Article

APA
van der Merwe D, van den Wollenberg L, van Hees-Valkenborg J, de Haan T, van der Drift S, Vandendriessche V. (2022). Evaluation of hair analysis for determination of trace mineral status and exposure to toxic heavy metals in horses in the Netherlands. J Vet Diagn Invest, 34(6), 1000-1005. https://doi.org/10.1177/10406387221116069

Publication

Journal of veterinary diagnostic investigation : official publication of the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians, Inc
ISSN: 1943-4936
NlmUniqueID: 9011490
Country: United States
Language: English
Volume: 34
Issue: 6
Pages: 1000-1005

Researcher Affiliations

van der Merwe, Deon
  • Royal GD, Deventer, The Netherlands.
van den Wollenberg, Linda
  • Royal GD, Deventer, The Netherlands.
van Hees-Valkenborg, Jolien
  • Royal GD, Deventer, The Netherlands.
de Haan, Tara
  • Royal GD, Deventer, The Netherlands.
van der Drift, Saskia
  • Royal GD, Deventer, The Netherlands.
Vandendriessche, Veerle
  • ForFarmers, Ingelmunster, Belgium.

MeSH Terms

  • Horses
  • Animals
  • Trace Elements
  • Manganese
  • Copper
  • Selenium
  • Cadmium / analysis
  • Arsenic / analysis
  • Molybdenum / analysis
  • Nickel / analysis
  • Hair Analysis / veterinary
  • Netherlands / epidemiology
  • Vanadium / analysis
  • Zinc
  • Metals, Heavy / analysis
  • Chromium / analysis
  • Cobalt / analysis
  • Iron
  • Water / analysis

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

References

This article includes 15 references
  1. Asano K, Suzuki K, Chiba M, Sera K, Matsumoto T, Asano R, Sakai T. Influence of the coat color on the trace elemental status measured by particle-induced X-ray emission in horse hair.. Biol Trace Elem Res 2005 Feb;103(2):169-76.
    pubmed: 15772440doi: 10.1385/bter:103:2:169google scholar: lookup
  2. Barrett S. Commercial hair analysis. Science or scam?. JAMA 1985 Aug 23-30;254(8):1041-5.
    pubmed: 4021042
  3. Brummer-Holder M, Cassill BD, Hayes SH. Interrelationships Between Age and Trace Element Concentration in Horse Mane Hair and Whole Blood.. J Equine Vet Sci 2020 Apr;87:102922.
    pubmed: 32172912doi: 10.1016/j.jevs.2020.102922google scholar: lookup
  4. Counotte G, Holzhauer M, Carp-van Dijken S, Muskens J, Van der Merwe D. Levels of trace elements and potential toxic elements in bovine livers: A trend analysis from 2007 to 2018.. PLoS One 2019;14(4):e0214584.
    pmc: PMC6456170pubmed: 30964882doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0214584google scholar: lookup
  5. Davis TZ, Stegelmeier BL, Hall JO. Analysis in horse hair as a means of evaluating selenium toxicoses and long-term exposures.. J Agric Food Chem 2014 Jul 30;62(30):7393-7.
    pubmed: 24829058doi: 10.1021/jf500861pgoogle scholar: lookup
  6. Druyan ME, Bass D, Puchyr R, Urek K, Quig D, Harmon E, Marquardt W. Determination of reference ranges for elements in human scalp hair.. Biol Trace Elem Res 1998 Jun;62(3):183-97.
    pubmed: 9676882doi: 10.1007/bf02783970google scholar: lookup
  7. Ghorbani A. Effects of dietary mineral intake on hair and serum mineral contents of horses.. J Equine Vet Sci 2015;35:295–300.
  8. Jackson SG. Trace minerals for the performance horse: known biochemical roles and estimates of requirements.. Irish Vet J 1997;50:668–674.
  9. Kalashnikov VV, Zajcev AM, Atroshchenko MM, Miroshnikov SA, Zavyalov OA, Frolov AN, Skalny AV. Assessment of Gender Effects and Reference Values of Mane Hair Trace Element Content in English Thoroughbred Horses (North Caucasus, Russia) Using ICP-DRC-MS.. Biol Trace Elem Res 2019 Oct;191(2):382-388.
    pubmed: 30635847doi: 10.1007/s12011-019-1634-9google scholar: lookup
  10. Kim BG, Kil DY, Mahan DC, Hill GM, Stein HH. Effects of dietary sulfur and distillers dried grains with solubles on carcass characteristics, loin quality, and tissue concentrations of sulfur, selenium, and copper in growing-finishing pigs.. J Anim Sci 2014 Oct;92(10):4486-93.
    pubmed: 25149347doi: 10.2527/jas.2013-6323google scholar: lookup
  11. Monteiro-Riviere NA. Comparative anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry of mammalian skin.. In: Hobson DW, ed. Dermal and Ocular Toxicology: Fundamentals and Methods. CRC Press, 1991:3–71.
  12. Namkoong S, Hong SP, Kim MH, Park BC. Reliability on intra-laboratory and inter-laboratory data of hair mineral analysis comparing with blood analysis.. Ann Dermatol 2013 Feb;25(1):67-72.
    pmc: PMC3582931pubmed: 23467102doi: 10.5021/ad.2013.25.1.67google scholar: lookup
  13. Ozougwu JC. Physiology of the liver.. Int J Res Pharm Biosci 2017;4:13–24.
  14. Roug A, Swift PK, Gerstenberg G, Woods LW, Kreuder-Johnson C, Torres SG, Puschner B. Comparison of trace mineral concentrations in tail hair, body hair, blood, and liver of mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in California.. J Vet Diagn Invest 2015 May;27(3):295-305.
    pubmed: 25862714doi: 10.1177/1040638715577826google scholar: lookup
  15. Seidel S, Kreutzer R, Smith D, McNeel S, Gilliss D. Assessment of commercial laboratories performing hair mineral analysis.. JAMA 2001 Jan 3;285(1):67-72.
    pubmed: 11150111doi: 10.1001/jama.285.1.67google scholar: lookup

Citations

This article has been cited 6 times.
  1. van Bömmel-Wegmann S, Gehlen H, Barton AK, Büttner K, Zentek J, Paßlack N. Zinc Status of Horses and Ponies: Relevance of Health, Horse Type, Sex, Age, and Test Material. Vet Sci 2023 Apr 16;10(4).
    doi: 10.3390/vetsci10040295pubmed: 37104450google scholar: lookup
  2. Wright AL, Earley ET, Austin C, Arora M. Equine odontoclastic tooth resorption and hypercementosis (EOTRH): microspatial distribution of trace elements in hypercementosis-affected and unaffected hard dental tissues. Sci Rep 2023 Mar 28;13(1):5048.
    doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-32016-6pubmed: 36977746google scholar: lookup
  3. Lee S, Oh MH, Kim JH, Choi I, No J, Kim DH, Yoo JG. Workplace-related environmental exposure and its potential influence on hair mineral and gut microbiota in cloned working dogs. J Vet Med Sci 2025 Oct 1;87(10):1141-1148.
    doi: 10.1292/jvms.25-0130pubmed: 40835431google scholar: lookup
  4. van der Merwe D, Jacobs Y, van der Drift S, Koopmans A. Reference intervals for trace minerals and heavy metals in livers of cattle in wilderness areas in the Netherlands. J Vet Diagn Invest 2025 Jul;37(4):552-558.
    doi: 10.1177/10406387251325864pubmed: 40128632google scholar: lookup
  5. Halo M Jr, Kirchner R, Tirpák F, Slanina T, Tokárová K, Kováčik A, Miškeje M, Greń A, Formicki G, Halo M, Madeddu R, Massányi P. Essential and risk elements in horses affect haematology, serum biochemistry and oxidative status parameters. Sci Rep 2025 Jan 28;15(1):3489.
    doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-87908-6pubmed: 39875518google scholar: lookup
  6. van der Merwe D, van den Wollenberg L, van Hees-Valkenborg J, de Haan T, van der Drift S. Reference intervals for trace mineral and heavy metal concentrations in horse livers in the Netherlands. J Vet Diagn Invest 2023 Nov;35(6):737-741.
    doi: 10.1177/10406387231193328pubmed: 37565635google scholar: lookup
Subscribe to our newsletter
Join 99,357 horse owners like you who receive our email updates on horse health and nutrition.