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COMPARISON OF METALS IN HUMAN MILK AND URINE USING TRACE MULTIELEMENT ANALYSES
Citation:
FENTON, S. E., J. RAYNER, R. R. BARBEE, B. HEIDENFELDER, A. M. LEVINE, L. IORDANIDIS, J. WILLIAMS, J. E. GALLAGHER, AND E. P. HINES. COMPARISON OF METALS IN HUMAN MILK AND URINE USING TRACE MULTIELEMENT ANALYSES. Presented at Society of Toxicology, San Diego, CA, March 05 - 09, 2006.
Description:
Healthy, nonsmoking women from 18-38 years old twice donated milk and urine (2-7 weeks and 3-4 months postpartum) as part of the EPA's Methods Advancement for Milk Analysis study, a pilot for the National Children's Study (NCS). Our goals were to determine 1) if routine high throughput methods for the measurement of metals in urine could be applied to breast milk, 2) the levels of metals detected and the relationship between them in these two biologic sources, 3) if urine can be used as a surrogate for milk.
Eleven metals (Be, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Cd, and Pb) were measured in a matched subset of milk and urine samples (N=12) donated 2-7 weeks postpartum. Spike-recovery analyses were performed using SRM milk and urine reference standards. Recoveries in milk ranged from about 98-112% for all metals. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry reliably detected five metals in milk samples (Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, and Se), whereas Cr, Fe, Zn, As, and Se were above detection limits in urine from these women. Interestingly, zinc ranged from 500-5000ppb in milk, but only 50 to 600 ppb in urine. Iron was also at higher levels in milk; ranged 500-1200ppb vs. 200-550ppb in urine. Selenium was detected at similar levels in urine and milk samples (40 to 150ppb). Arsenic was detected in urine of 3 women at levels ranging from 40 to 400ppb, but not in breast milk. These preliminary data suggest that breast milk monitoring may detect routine dietary metals, whereas urinary metal measurements may be a more sensitive indicator of environmental components. Comparison of early vs. mid lactation milk samples with their paired urine samples will provide further information on the pattern of partitioning of these compounds. (This abstract does not necessarily reflect EPA policy.)