Abstract
BackgroundIt is generally acknowledged that the determination of harmful chemical compounds excreted into saliva is useful for assessing their exposure levels. The aim of the present study was to compare the total arsenic and its species in saliva and urine samples collected from the people residing in an arsenic-contaminated area of China and to further verify the feasibility of using salivary arsenic as a new biomarker of arsenic exposure.MethodsTotal arsenic and speciation analyses in urine and saliva samples among 70 residents exposed to arsenic from drinking water in Shanxi, China were carried out by high-performance liquid chromatography-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (HPLC-ICP/MS).ResultsThe result showed that, total arsenic concentration in saliva was relatively lower than in urine samples, but it existed a strong positive correlation with total urinary arsenic, drinking water arsenic and different skin lesions. For arsenic metabolism analyses, AsIII, AsV, MMA, and DMA were detected in all of the urine samples with the dominating species of DMA (73.2%). Different with urinary arsenic species, most arsenic species in saliva were not methylated. The major species in saliva was iAs (AsIII + AsV, 76.18%), followed by DMA (13.08%) and MMA (9.13%). And the primary methylation index (PMI), second methylation index (SMI) and proportion of the four different species (AsIII, AsV, MMA, and DMA) in saliva showed no significant positive relationship with that of in urine.ConclusionsThese findings indicated saliva may be used as a useful tool for biological monitoring of total arsenic exposure in the crowd rather than an efficient tool for assessing arsenic metabolism in human body after exposed to arsenic.
Highlights
It is generally acknowledged that the determination of harmful chemical compounds excreted into saliva is useful for assessing their exposure levels
Our study analyzed the total arsenic in human saliva of three groups, and found that, similar to urinary arsenic, with an increase in the arsenic concentrations in drinking water, the salivary arsenic level increased markedly as well
We found that saliva assay can be used as a useful tool for biological monitoring of total arsenic exposure, after consumption of organic arsenic (Chinese Seaweed), six species were detected in urine but only three species were detected in saliva samples, and most of them are unmethylated [41]
Summary
It is generally acknowledged that the determination of harmful chemical compounds excreted into saliva is useful for assessing their exposure levels. Yuan et al, [20] first analyzed arsenic and its species in human saliva from an arsenic-contaminated area and found that salivary arsenic could be a potential biomarker of arsenic exposure. The aim of the present study, was to compare the total arsenic and its species in saliva and urine samples collected from the people residing in an arsenic-contaminated area of China and to further verify the feasibility of using salivary arsenic as a new biomarker of arsenic exposure
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