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. 2017 May 11;22(1):45.
doi: 10.1186/s12199-017-0652-5.

Total arsenic and speciation analysis of saliva and urine samples from individuals living in a chronic arsenicosis area in China

Dapeng Wang  1   2 , Yasuyo Shimoda  3 , Sanxiang Wang  4 , Zhenghui Wang  4 , Jian Liu  1 , Xing Liu  1 , Huanyu Jin  1 , Fenfang Gao  1 , Jian Tong  1 , Kenzo Yamanaka  3 , Jie Zhang  5 , Yan An  6
Affiliations

Total arsenic and speciation analysis of saliva and urine samples from individuals living in a chronic arsenicosis area in China

Dapeng Wang et al. Environ Health Prev Med. .

Abstract

Background: It 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.

Methods: Total 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).

Results: The 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.

Conclusions: These 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.

Keywords: Arsenic speciation; Biomarker; Drinking water; Saliva; Urine.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Relationship among total arsenic (TAs) in drinking water, urine and saliva. a Correlation of TAs between drinking water and urine (r = 0.686, P < 0.01, n = 70). b Correlation of TAs between saliva and drinking water (r = 0.674, P < 0.01, n = 70). c Correlation of TAs between urine and saliva (r = 0.794, P < 0.01, n = 70)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Chromatograms of arsenic species in the standard solution, urine sample and saliva sample obtained using HPLC-ICP-MS
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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