tim's journal

How much gold?

How much gold is in a human body? Recently, Ahnlide et al. (Malmo University Hospital, Sweden) found the concentration of gold in blood to be <0.04-0.15 μg/L using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry [1] for those without dental gold. For those with dental gold the concentration ranged from 0.04-1.07 μg/L. The detection limit was 0.04 μg/L. The average human adult has approximately 5 liters of blood. One might, however, expect gold to be taken up into tissues such as the liver. Indeed, in 1962, Parr and Taylor, demonstrating the determination of gold in biological materials via thermal neutron activation analysis, showed the gold concentration in human liver to range between 13 and 790 μgμ/g wet tissue, with a median value of 57 μμg/g and a mean of 114 μμg [3]. The CRC Handbook of Toxicology places the mass of the human liver at 2.3 g/100 g body weight [4]. Using a 70 kg human gives us 1610 g, which gives us approximately 0.02 μg of gold (using the mean value). So, a lot more gold hangs around in blood then in the liver. Actually, in the 50s it was quite popular to subscribe to the alchemical properties of gold. In this case, the subjects (22 males and 10 females), ages ranging from a few hours after birth to 80 years, had never been treated with drugs containing gold. The liver samples were taken post-mortem. Those interested in the toxicology of gold should do a search on "gold" at Amazon.com on Patty's Toxicology, Tox Issues Related to Metals/Neurotoxicology and Radiation/Metals and Metal Compounds [5].

References
[1] I. Ahnlide, C. Ahlgren, B. Bjorkner, M. Bruze, T. Lundh, H. Moller, K. Nilner and A. Schutz, "Gold concentration in blood in relation to the number of gold restorations and contact allergy to gold," Acta Odontol.Scand., vol. 60, pp. 301-305, Oct. 2002.
[2] L. Lee, "Volume of Blood in a Human," in The Physics Factbook, G. Elert, Ed., [Online document], 2001, [cited 18 Dec 2003]. Available: http://hypertextbook.com/facts/1998/LanNaLee.shtml.
[3] R.M. Parr and D.M. Taylor, "The Determination of Gold in Human Liver by Thermal Neutron Activation Analysis," Phys. Med. Biol., vol. 8, pp. 43-50, 1962. Available: http://ej.iop.org/links/q55/NHcvircgzwOWMFq9k4yEVg/pbv8i1p43.pdf.
[4] M.J. Derelanko, "Risk Assessment," in CRC handbook of toxicology, M.J. Derelanko and M.A. Hollinger Eds. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 1995, pp. 645.
[5] D.R. Juberg and F.T. Hearne, "Silver and Gold," in Patty's Toxicology, 5th ed., E. Bingham, B. Cohrssen and C.H. Powell Eds. New York: Wiley, 2001,