Science Inventory

Estimating relative bioavailability of soil lead in the mouse

Citation:

Bradham, K., C. Nelson, P. Alava, J. Misenheimer, G. Diamond, W. Thayer, AND D. Thomas. Estimating relative bioavailability of soil lead in the mouse. JOURNAL OF TOXICOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH - PART A: CURRENT ISSUES. Taylor & Francis, Inc., Philadelphia, PA, 79(24):1179-1182, (2016). https://doi.org/10.1080/15287394.2016.1221789

Impact/Purpose:

This ms describes development and validation of an assay to estimate the bioavailability of lead in soil. The performance of the new assay compares favorably to that of an established assay that uses juvenile swine.

Description:

Lead in soil and dust are important exposure sources for children through both direct (ingestion) and indirect (inhalation) routes. Thus, determining bioavailability of lead in these media is an important step in evaluating risk and selecting appropriate strategies to minimize exposure. Here, a mouse model used to estimate relative bioavailability of arsenic in soil was adapted to measure this parameter for lead in NIST SRM 2710a (Montana 1 Soil) using lead acetate as the reference compound. Based on lead levels in four tissues (blood, liver, kidney, bone), the mean estimate of relative bioavailability of lead in this soil was 0.5. Mouse-derived estimates of relative bioavailabilities from individual tissues or the mean value compared favorably with those obtained for SRM 2710a in the well-characterized juvenile swine model. Thus, the mouse model may be an efficient and inexpensive method to obtain estimates of relative bioavailability of lead in soil.