Comparative study of trace element contents in human full-term placenta and fetal membranes by total reflection X-ray fluorescence

The total reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF) method was applied to study the influence of environmental pollution on the contents of trace elements in human full-term placenta and fetal membranes. The samples were collected from the donors living in two regions characterised by different levels of environmental pollution. In this comparative study, based on relatively large (∼100) populations, the concentrations of approximately 20 trace elements (P–Pb) were determined in the samples. In particular, the paper discusses the role of ‘truncation’ of measured concentration distribution by the detection limit of the TXRF method in context of comparative studies. First, the importance of the developed method of reconstruction of original concentration distribution, to derive the correct concentrations of trace elements, is described and demonstrated and, second, the statistical tests, which can be used to compare the truncated, or reconstructed, concentration distributions are discussed. Finally, the statistically significant differences of trace element concentrations found in both populations are presented and summarised.