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Trace Metals in the Urine and Hair of a Population in an Endemic Arsenism Area

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Abstract

There have been few investigations of trace elements in the urine and hair of populations exposed to high levels of arsenic (As) in drinking water. Therefore, concentrations of selected metals in urine and hair samples from a population in a study area where arsenism was endemic and a control area were determined. It was found that the median concentrations of barium (Ba), cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), and As in the urine samples from the population in the study area were 3.87, 0.47, 0.50, 61.84, 26.82, 1.33, 128.45, 7.05, 1.10, 233.75, and 339.63 μg/L, respectively. The corresponding values in the urine samples from a population in the control area were 29.08, 0.19, 0.21, 27.77, 10.32, 4.61, 14.01, 2.19, 3.90, 113.92, and 20.28 μg/L, respectively. In the study area, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mo, Ni, Pb, and Zn excreted in the urine were likely to be mainly derived from drinking water with high levels of arsenic. The median concentrations of Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Zn, and As in the hair samples from the study area were 4.16, 0.03, 0.09, 1.09, 6.54, 1.97, 0.06, 0.53, 1.64, 144.28, and 1.67 mg/kg, respectively. The corresponding values from the control area were 4.76, 0.03, 0.02, 1.41, 8.31, 1.34, 0.07, 0.39, 0.86, 154.58, and 0.29 mg/kg, respectively. Significant positive correlations were observed between As and Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mo, Ni, Pb, and Zn in the urine in the study area. However, As was not positively associated with these metals in the hair samples. Exposure to high levels of As in drinking water increased the accumulation of Ba and Mn in the hair and the excretion of Cd, Cu, and Mo in the urine in the study area. The population in the study area might experience Cu and Mo deficiencies for an increasing excretion of Cu and Mo.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the State Key Program of National Natural Science of China (grant no. 41230749) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 41601559).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 11 A Datun Road, Beijing, 100101, People’s Republic of China

    Binggan Wei, Jiangping Yu, Jing Wang, Hairong Li, Linsheng Yang & Chang Kong

  2. College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Jing Wang, Hairong Li, Linsheng Yang & Chang Kong

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  1. Binggan Wei
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  2. Jiangping Yu
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  3. Jing Wang
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  4. Hairong Li
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  5. Linsheng Yang
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  6. Chang Kong
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Correspondence to Hairong Li or Linsheng Yang.

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Wei, B., Yu, J., Wang, J. et al. Trace Metals in the Urine and Hair of a Population in an Endemic Arsenism Area. Biol Trace Elem Res 182, 209–216 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-017-1108-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-017-1108-x

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