Elements in autopsy liver tissue samples from Greenlandic Inuit and Danes. I. Sulphur, chlorine, potassium and bromine measured by X-ray fluorescence spectrometry.

The purpose of this study was to measure the content of the elements Sulphur (S), Chlorine (C1), Potassium (K) and Bromine (Br) in normal liver tissue samples from Greenlandic Inuit using X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, and compare the results with those obtained in normal liver tissue samples from Danes. Liver tissue sample were obtained at autopsy from 50 Greenlandic Inuit (27 men, 23 women) with a median age of 61 years (range 20-83) and from 74 Danes (44 men, 30 women) with a median age of 52 years (range 15-87). In Inuit, the content of elements given as median and (5-95 percentile) was: sulphur, 108.07 mmol/kg dry liver (86.78 - 169.44); chlorine, 92.16 mmol/kg dry liver (45.39-128.42); potassium, 181.66 mmol/kg dry liver (146.41-236.35); bromine, 0.0901 mmol/kg dry liver (0.0563-0.1589). In Danes, the corresponding values were: sulphur, 147.58 mmol/kg dry liver (70.41-236.81); chlorine, 96.95 mmol/kg dry liver (54.01-162.52); potassium, 198.40 mmol/kg dry liver (150.68-256.37); bromine, 0.1101 mmol/kg dry liver (0.0701 - 0.4203). None of the elements displayed any significant gender difference, neither in Inuit nor in Danes. Inuit had a lower liver content of sulphur (p < 0.0001), potassium (p < 0.008) and bromine (p < 0.002) as compared with Danes.