Citation:

Schmitt, M, D M. Schreinemachers, J. S. Mumford, K. Wu, AND Z. Ning. HUMAN NAILS AS A BIOMARKER OF ARSENIC EXPOSURE FROM WELL WATER IN AN INNER MONGOLIAN POPULATION: COMPARING ATOMIC FLUORESCENSE SPECTROMETRY AND NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS. Taylor & Francis (ed.), BIOMARKERS. Taylor & Francis, Inc., Philadelphia, PA, 10(2-3):95-104, (2005).

Impact/Purpose:

to use human nails as biomarker for arsenic exposure

Description:

Arsenic (As) is found naturally in the geological strata within the Ba Men Region of West Central Inner Mongolia, China. Residents here have been chronically exposed to a wide range of drinking water As levels for more than 20 years. Nails and drinking water samples were collected from Ba Men residents in 1999 and 2000. A pilot study of pooled samples (finger and toenails) from each of the 32 participants compared total As levels in nails determined using Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) with results from Atomic Fluorescence Spectrometry (AFS). Mean nail As values were 14.8 mg/g ? 2.4 and 19.4 mg/g ? 2.8 (mean ? SEM) for INAA and AFS, respectively. The two methods were significantly correlated (r = 0.93, p<0.0001). Given these results, INAA was used to measure As in toenails for 314 Ba Men residents from 121 households in 2000. The 121 households were selected a priori based on drinking water As levels and divided into low, medium, and high As groups. Each household well water sample was analyzed by AFS. As concentrations ranged from BDL to 690mg/l in well water and 0.17 mg/g to 65.9 mg/g in toenails. A significant correlation was observed between toenail and well water As (r = 0.84, p < 0.0001) and between toenail As and well depth (r = 0.75, p < 0.0001). INAA could be a useful measure of nail arsenic and well depth may potentially be a useful surrogate measure for drinking water arsenic exposure in this population.

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