Biomonitoring for Environmental Exposures to Arsenic

Abstract

Arsenic (As) is a widely occurring environmental contaminant. To assess human exposures to As, public health officials and researchers often conduct biomonitoring. Samples of urine, hair, nails, or blood are collected from potentially exposed people and are analyzed for As compounds and their metabolites. When analyzing for As exposure, it is useful to distinguish between As species, since they differ in their origin and toxicity. Urine is the most frequently used biological medium for biomonitoring. Measuring the urinary concentration of As is useful in assessing recent exposure to As, and high-quality reference ranges are available for urinary As concentrations in the U.S. population. Biomonitoring for As in hair and nails has been used in many studies and is particularly useful in evaluating chronic exposures to As. Interpreting the health implications of As concentrations in biological samples is limited by the small number of studies that provide information on the correlation and dose-response relationship between biomonitoring test results and adverse health effects. This study discusses the advantages and limitations of biomonitoring for As in biological samples and provides illustrative case studies.

Arsenic speciation analysis of urine samples from individuals living in an arsenic-contaminated area in Bangladesh

“…a y = iAs ? MMA, b y = sumAs Table 4 Equations of regression between logarithm of iAs in drinking water (log x) and logarithm of urinary As species (log y) potential for external contamination, (2) absence of standardized analytical methods, and (3) absence of a welldefined reference range [42]. Therefore, to assess human exposure to iAs, it is essential to determine the arsenic speciation in urine.…”

“…Urine is the most frequently used biological medium, and speciating arsenic is important for identifying possible factors that contribute to urinary arsenic levels [42]. Arsenic in hair or fingernail can be a biomarker of long-term arsenic exposure, because inorganic arsenic can bind to sulfhydryl groups in keratin and other proteins in the human body.…”

The role of variations in growth rate and sample collection on interpreting results of segmental analyses of hair

“…This technique has been reported as useful for monitoring suspected drug use patterns [20][21][22][23][24][25], therapeutic compliance [26,27], and drug abstinence [21,24,[28][29][30], evaluating repeated exposures to poisons [31][32][33][34], and substantiating victim's symptoms in drugfacilitated crimes [4,7,[35][36][37].…”

Lead, Arsenic, Cadmium, Mercury: Occurrence, Toxicity and Diseases

“…The most common oxidation numbers of arsenic are +5, +3 and −3 (Table 7.1 ), in which the element is able to form both inorganic and organic compounds both in water, soil or food and within the human body (Orloff et al 2009 ). In combination with other elements such as oxygen, sulphur and chlorine, the element is referred to as inorganic arsenic and as combined with hydrogen and carbon as organic arsenic.…”