Effect of Soil Dose on Bioavailability of Lead from Mining Waste Soil in Rats

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent of absorption of lead (Pb) in mining waste soil from Butte, Montana. It is the first study to fully investigate the bioavailability of lead in soils containing mine waste using a soil dose response approach. Young 7–8 week-old male and female Sprague-Dawley rats (5 animals/sex/group) were given mining waste soil [810 ppm lead (Test Soil I) or 3,908 ppm lead (Test Soil III)] mixed in a purified diet (AIN—76™) at four different dose levels (0.2, 0.5, 2 and 5% dietary soil) for 30 consecutive days. The test soil dose levels at 2 and 5% were chosen to bracket a pica-for-soil child's soil exposure levels. A pica-for-soil child is a young child who eats large quantities of soil (10 g day−1). Standard groups included untreated controls and dosed feed soluble lead acetate groups (1, 10, 25, 100 and 250 μg Pb g−1 feed). The concentrations of lead acetate were chosen to bracket the test soil dose levels of lead. Liver, blood and femur, representing the three compartments in which lead is distributed in the body, were analyzed for total lead concentration using graphite furnace atomic absorption spectroscopy. Clinical signs, body weight, food consumption and liver weights for treated and standard groups were similar to control. Tissue lead concentrations from test soil animals were significantly lower than the tissue concentrations for the dosed feed lead acetate group. Group mean whole blood, bone and liver lead concentrations increased with increasing dose levels for most treatment groups. The increases in blood, bone and liver lead concentrations were not proportional with increasing dose levels and plateaued at the high dose levels. Relative percent bioavailability values, based on dosed feed soluble lead as the standard, were independent of the two different test soils, dose levels or sex, and only slightly dependent on the tissue (blood > bone, liver). Overall relative percent bioavailability values were 20% based on the blood data; 9% based on the bone data; and 8% based on the liver data (2 and 5% dose levels only). The results of this study will provide the scientific validity needed to determine the significance of lead exposure from Butte soils in assessing human health risks as part of the Superfund Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study process.