The Study of Hair from Men with Androgenetic Alopecia Using the Laser-induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) Technique
S. Hamzaoui, I. Cherni and N. Jaïdene
The laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) technique was used for analysis of hair samples for men who suffer from androgenetic alopecia. Analysis showed the richness of the hair composition on trace elements and minerals, namely magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), sodium (Na), potassium (K) and the B2Σ+ → X2Σ+ violet CN emission band. We focused our study on the comparison of the emission line intensities of K, Mg, Ca and Na from plasmas plume generated on hair samples from occipital and parietal regions for twelve men who suffer from androgenetic alopecia. This comparison exhibited different behaviours for these elements. Concerning Mg line intensities, we did not note a regular variation. For Ca and Na, lines from the occipital regions are more intense than those from parietal regions. For the K, on the other hand, lines for the parietal regions are more intense than those from the occipital regions.
Keywords: Nd:YAG laser, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), hair, androgenetic alopecia, occipital, parietal.