Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology

The Korean Society of Environmental Health and Toxicology (환경독성보건학회)
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Distribution of Arsenic in Korean Human Tissues

한국인의 체내 비소오염도 조사 연구

  • Published : 2003.06.01
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Abstract

Humans are exposed to toxic element arsenic (As) from air, food and water The current study was performed to investigate the levels of arsenic in the internal organs (liver, kidney cortex, lung, cerebrum. abdominal muscle and abdominal skin) and to find out correlation with age and interrelationship between tissues in Korean human bodies who had lived in Seoul or Gyeonggi Province and Honam district. The tissues from 43 Korean cadavers were digested with microwave digestion system and arsenic was determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS). The mean recovery percentages of arsenic In liver were about 80％ and artenic concentrations in human tissues were almost uniform. The mean level of arsenic in internal tissues were at follow ; liver 44.556${\pm}$25.199 ppb, kidney cortex 42.652${\pm}$22.082 pub, lung 31.020 ${\pm}$ 17.504 ppb. cerebrum 35.703 ${\pm}$22.191 ppb, muscle 43.413${\pm}$26.619 ppb and skin 42.106${\pm}$25.8,11 ppb. No significant difference was found in the levels of arsenic between sexes. Meanwhile significant differences between districts where they had lived were found in all tissues tested. The levels of arsenic in the tissues of cadavers who had lived in Seoul Gyeonggi Province were higher than those of Honam district. In addition a positive correlation between As concentration and age was observed only in the cerebrum (p < 0.05). A significantly high correlations between tissues were observed in all tissues tested. This result also shows that the distribution of arsenic is uniform in internal tissues.

Keywords

References

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