Gosselin Nathalie H, Brunet Robert C, Carrier Gaétan, Bouchard Michèle, Feeley Mark
Chaire en analyse des risques toxicologiques pour la santé humaine and Département de santé environnementale et santé au travail, Faculté de Médecine, Université de Montréal, PO Box 6128, Main Station, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol. 2006 Jan;16(1):19-29. doi: 10.1038/sj.jea.7500433.
Significant amounts of methylmercury (MeHg) can bioaccumulate in fish and sea mammals. To monitor MeHg exposure in individuals, organic and inorganic mercury are often measured in blood samples or in hair strands, the latter being by far the best integrator of past exposure. With knowledge of the MeHg kinetics in humans, the levels of both biomarkers can be related to MeHg body burden and intakes. In the present study, we use the toxicokinetic model of Carrier et al. (2001) describing the distribution and excretion of MeHg in humans, to reconstruct the history of MeHg intakes of indigenous women of the Inuvik region in Canada starting from total mercury concentrations in hair segments. From these reconstructed MeHg intakes, the corresponding simulated mercury blood concentrations are found to be good predictors of the concentrations actually measured in blood samples. An important conclusion of this study is that, for almost all subjects, the reconstructed history of their MeHg intakes provides much lower intake values than intakes estimated from questionnaires on food consumption and estimated MeHg levels in these foods; the mean value of the reconstructed MeHg intakes is 0.03 microg/kg/day compared with the mean value of 0.20 microg/kg/day obtained from questionnaires. The model was also used to back-calculate the MeHg intakes from concentrations in hair strands collected from aboriginals of the Amazon region in Brazil, a population significantly more exposed than the population of the Inuvik region.
大量的甲基汞（MeHg）会在鱼类和海洋哺乳动物体内生物累积。为了监测个体的甲基汞暴露情况，通常会检测血液样本或发丝中的有机汞和无机汞，其中发丝是迄今为止过去暴露情况的最佳综合指标。了解人体中甲基汞的动力学后，这两种生物标志物的水平都可以与甲基汞的体内负荷和摄入量相关联。在本研究中，我们使用了Carrier等人（2001年）描述人体中甲基汞分布和排泄的毒物动力学模型，从发丝段中的总汞浓度开始重建加拿大伊努维克地区原住民女性的甲基汞摄入历史。从这些重建的甲基汞摄入量中发现，相应模拟的汞血浓度是血液样本中实际测量浓度的良好预测指标。这项研究的一个重要结论是，对于几乎所有受试者来说，重建的甲基汞摄入历史所提供的摄入量值远低于根据食物消费问卷和这些食物中估计的甲基汞水平所估算的摄入量；重建的甲基汞摄入量的平均值为0.03微克/千克/天，而通过问卷获得的平均值为0.20微克/千克/天。该模型还被用于根据从巴西亚马逊地区原住民收集的发丝中的浓度反推甲基汞摄入量，该人群的暴露程度明显高于伊努维克地区的人群。
