A population assessment of mercury exposure from two cities of Pakistan with respect to freshwater and marine fish consumption

作者：Shah Abdul Qadir; Kazi Tasneem Gul^*; Afridi Hassan Imran; Arain Mohammad Balal

来源：Toxicology and Industrial Health, 2016, 32(6): 1033-1041.

DOI：10.1177/0748233714545503

• Mercury
• scalp hair
• sea fish
• gender
• cold vapor atomic absorption spectrophotometry

In this study, we aimed to estimate the level of mercury (Hg) in scalp hair samples of human subjects and its association with consumption of sea- and freshwater fish species. The scalp hairs were collected from both genders (male and female) aged between 15 and 50 years (n = 200), living in coastal areas of Karachi, who mostly consumed sea fish species, referred to as exposed subjects. For comparison purposes, scalp hair samples of both genders (n = 160) were collected from the inhabitants of Karachi and Hyderabad cities who consumed freshwater fish species termed as referent subjects. The frequently consumed fresh and marine fish species were also collected. The level of Hg was determined in fish and scalp hair samples by cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry, prior to ultrasonic -assisted acid digestion in a mixture of nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide. The validity of methodology was checked by certified reference material (CRM) BCR 397 (human hair) and DORM-2. The concentrations of Hg in sea- and freshwater fish were found in the range of 1.47-2.09 and 0.402-0.676 g/g, respectively. The exposed subjects had significantly elevated levels of Hg in scalp hair samples (1.8-4.3 g/g) as compared to referent subjects (0.87-1.95 g/g) (p < 0.001). A significant positive correlation was obtained between the concentration of Hg in hair and age of study population. Exposed and referent female subjects had higher levels of Hg in scalp hair than that in males of both study groups (p = 0.02-0.03 1).

• 出版日期2016-6