[The metallic profile: a new biological concept].

Considerable advances have been made in metals and metalloids analysis over the past decade. This analysis is a basic stage in deficiency or toxicity assessment. A recently introduced technique, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is progressively replacing atomic absorption. This analysis permits multi-elementary determinations, many ten or so elements, among periodic classification, with an optimal gain in sensitivity in many biological matrices: i.e. whole blood, plasma, urine, hair, nail, and biopsy samples. Moreover, this method allows semi-quantitative determination with an additional thirty supplementary elements, which enables the toxicologist to sufficiently estimate the toxic levels and metal exposure. The authors demonstrate that the ICP-MS could be very useful for a wide range of clinical applications. Furthermore, this procedure offers new exploration possibilities in various fields such as clinical chemistry but also clinical toxicology, forensic toxicology as well as workplace testing or environmental exposure and permits epidemiologic studies. This analytical method in fact also provides a new biologic approach. To our knowledge we are the first to propose the metallic profile.