Arsenic Levels in fingernails As a Biological Indicator of Exposure to Arsenic

Agahian, Behnaz; Lee, Jeff; Nelson, James H.; Johns, Richard E.

doi:10.1202/0002-8894(1990)051<0646:alifaa>2.0.co;2

Cited by 7 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…Arsenic concentration of human nail clippings was associated with concentrations of arsenic in air, soil, and dust in the literature, suggesting that other exposure routes may be significantly influencing cumulative exposure. Agahian et al (1990) observed a strong positive correlation between air and fingernail samples, when mean air arsenic concentration and arsenic levels in fingernail clippings were compared for high, medium, and low exposure groups; however, exposure to arsenic in drinking water in that population was not measured. Hinwood et al (2003) report a strong significant correlation between toenail arsenic concentration and residential soil concentration (r = .50) and concentration of arsenic in dust (r = .46).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Toenails as a Biomarker of Inorganic Arsenic Intake From Drinking Water and Foods

Slotnick

Meliker

AvRuskin

et al. 2007

Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part A

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Toenails were used recently in epidemiological and environmental health studies as a means of assessing exposure to arsenic from drinking water. While positive correlations between toenail and drinking-water arsenic concentrations were reported in the literature, a significant percentage of the variation in toenail arsenic concentration remains unexplained by drinking-water concentration alone. Here, the influence of water consumption at home and work, food intake, and drinking-water concentration on toenail arsenic concentration was investigated using data from a case-control study being conducted in 11 counties of Michigan. The results from 440 controls are presented. Log-transformed drinking-water arsenic concentration at home was a significant predictor (p < .05) of toenail arsenic concentration (R2 = .32). When arsenic intake from consumption of tap water and beverages made from tap water (microg/L arsenic x L/d = microg/d) was used as a predictor variable, the correlation was markedly increased for individuals with >1 microg/L arsenic (R2 = .48). Increased intake of seafood and intake of arsenic from water at work were independently and significantly associated with increased toenail arsenic concentration. However, when added to intake at home, work drinking-water exposure and food intake had little influence on the overall correlation. These results suggest that arsenic exposure from drinking-water consumption is an important determinant of toenail arsenic concentration, and therefore should be considered when validating and applying toenails as a biomarker of arsenic exposure.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Toenails as a Biomarker of Inorganic Arsenic Intake From Drinking Water and Foods

Slotnick

Meliker

AvRuskin

et al. 2007

Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part A

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“…Hair and nails are widely used as biomarkers of As exposure implying that As in these media reflects exposure to inorganic As only (Nowak 1993;Agahian et al 1990;SchegelZawadzka 1992;Das et al 1995). The bioaccumulation of As in human hair and nails is rather a complex process and influenced by several factors, like environmental quality, age, sex (Chakraborti et al 1998;Steinmaus et al 2000;Aharoni and Tesler 1992), nourishment, oxidation state of the metals and their binding sites (Schegel-Zawadzka 1992;Wilhelm and Hafner 1991).…”

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confidence: 97%

Hydrochemistry of Arsenic-Enriched Aquifer from Rural West Bengal, India: A Study of the Arsenic Exposure and Mitigation Option

Nath

Sahu

Jana

et al. 2007

Water Air Soil Pollut

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The present study aims to understand the hydrochemistry vis-à-vis As-exposure from drinking groundwater in rural Bengal. The characteristic feature of the groundwaters are low Eh (range, −151 to −37 mV; mean, −68 mV) and nitrate (range, 0.01-1.7 mg/l; mean, 0.14 mg/l) followed by high alkalinity (range, 100-630 mg/l; mean, 301 mg/l), Fe (range, 0.99-38 mg/l; mean, 8.1 mg/l), phosphate (range, 0.01-15 mg/l; mean, 0.54 mg/l), hardness (range, 46-600 mg/l; mean, 245 mg/l) and sulphate (range, 0.19-88 mg/l; mean, 7.2 mg/l), indicating reducing nature of the aquifer. The land use pattern (sanitation, surface water bodies, sanitation coupled with surface water bodies and agricultural lands) demonstrates local enrichment factor for As/Fe in groundwater. Among these, sanitation is the most prevailing where groundwater is generally enriched with As (mean, 269 μg/l) and Fe (mean, 9.8 mg/l). Questionnaire survey highlights that ∼70% of the villagers in the study area do not have proper sanitation. This demonstrating the local unsewered sanitation (organic waste, anthropogenic in origin) could also cause As toxicity in rural Bengal. In the agricultural lands, higher mean values of alkalinity, phosphate, sulphate, hardness and electrical conductivity was observed, and could be linked with the excessive use of fertilizers for agricultural production. Bio-markers study indicates that the accumulation of As in hair and nail is related with the construction of exposure scenario with time dimension. The strength and weakness of the on-going West Bengal and Bangladesh drinking water supply scenario and achievability towards alternative options are also evaluated.

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“…However, due to scarcity of data on nail arsenic content in people occupationally exposed and limited relevance of data on toenail As content in populations environmentally exposed to As via drinking water, it is fairly diYcult to make an interpretation of the results obtained in the present study. The available data on occupational exposure to As revealed an average content of 4 g/g in nails of gold miners exposed on average to 0.6 gAs/m 3 (Agahian et al 1990). Higher toenail As content (up to 16 g/g) was observed in workers exposed to 24 gAs/m 3 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…A part of it is deposited in the skin, hair and nails where it is Wrmly bound to keratin. Arsenic concentration in toenail and urine samples was shown to be a useful biomarker of environmental exposure via drinking water as well as occupational exposure (Agahian et al 1990;Karagas et al 2000;Lin et al 1998;Wilhelm et al 2005). Since As is rapidly metabolized and excreted in urine the concentration of total urinary As reXects mainly recent exposure (days or weeks) while the As content in nails reXects long-term exposure (over the last months) (Das et al 1995;Wilhelm et al 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Micronucleus frequency in peripheral blood lymphocytes and buccal mucosa cells of copper smelter workers, with special regard to arsenic exposure

Lewińska

Palus

Stępnik

et al. 2007

Int Arch Occup Environ Health

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Occupational exposure in copper smelters may produce various adverse health effects including cancer which, according to available epidemiologic data, is associated mainly with exposure to arsenic. Despite a number of well-documented studies reporting an increased risk of cancer among copper smelters workers, the data on genotoxic effects in this industry are scarce. In view of the above, an assessment of micronuclei (MN) frequency in peripheral blood lymphocytes and buccal epithelial cells from copper smelter workers was undertaken. Additionally, the clastogenic/aneugenic effect in lymphocytes was assessed with the fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). The study was conducted in three copper smelters in southwestern Poland. The subjects (n = 72) were enrolled among male workers at departments where As concentration in the air was up to at 80 microg/m(3). Exposure was assessed by measurement of arsenic concentration in urine and toenail samples. The control group (n = 83) was recruited from healthy male individuals living in central Poland who did not report any exposure to known genotoxins. The results of our study showed a significant increase in MN frequency in peripheral blood lymphocytes and in buccal epithelial cells of smelter workers, compared to the controls (7.96 +/- 4.28 vs. 3.47 +/- 1.70 and 0.98 +/- 0.76 vs. 0.50 +/- 0.52, respectively). The FISH technique revealed the presence of clastogenic and aneugenic effects in peripheral blood lymphocytes in both groups. The clastogenic effect was slightly more pronounced in the smelter workers; however, the difference was not statistically significant. The mean arsenic concentrations in urine (total arsenic species) and in toenail samples in the exposed group were 54.04 +/- 42.26 microg/l and 7.63 +/- 7.24 microg/g, respectively, being significantly different from control group 11.01 +/- 10.84 microg/l and 0.51 +/- 0.05 microg/g. No correlation between As content in urine or toenail samples and the genotoxic effect was found under study.

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Arsenic Levels in fingernails As a Biological Indicator of Exposure to Arsenic

Cited by 7 publications

References 0 publications

Toenails as a Biomarker of Inorganic Arsenic Intake From Drinking Water and Foods

Toenails as a Biomarker of Inorganic Arsenic Intake From Drinking Water and Foods

Hydrochemistry of Arsenic-Enriched Aquifer from Rural West Bengal, India: A Study of the Arsenic Exposure and Mitigation Option

Micronucleus frequency in peripheral blood lymphocytes and buccal mucosa cells of copper smelter workers, with special regard to arsenic exposure

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