Department of Health, Nutrition and Management, Faculty of Health Sciences, Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences, P.O. 4, St. Olavs Plass, NO-0130 Oslo, Norway.
Environ Res. 2012 Jan;112:28-39. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2011.11.007. Epub 2011 Dec 2.
Seafood is the predominant food source of several organoarsenic compounds. Some seafood species, like crustaceans and seaweed, also contain inorganic arsenic (iAs), a well-known toxicant. It is unclear whether human biotransformation of ingested organoarsenicals from seafood result in formation of arsenicals of health concern. The present controlled dietary study examined the urinary excretion of arsenic compounds (total arsenic (tAs), iAs, AB (arsenobetaine), dimethylarsinate (DMA) and methylarsonate (MA)) following ingestion of a single test meal of seafood (cod, 780 μg tAs, farmed salmon, 290 μg tAs or blue mussel, 690 μg tAs or potato (control, 110 μg tAs)) in 38 volunteers. The amount of ingested tAs excreted via the urine within 0-72 h varied significantly among the groups: Cod, 74% (52-92%), salmon 56% (46-82%), blue mussel 49% (37-78%), control 45% (30-60%). The estimated total urinary excretion of AB was higher than the amount of ingested AB in the blue mussel group (112%) and also ingestion of cod seemed to result in more AB, indicating possible endogenous formation of AB from other organoarsenicals. Excretion of iAs was lower than ingested (13-22% of the ingested iAs was excreted in the different groups). Although the ingested amount of iAs+DMA+MA was low for all seafood groups (1.2-4.5% of tAs ingested), the urinary DMA excretion was high in the blue mussel and salmon groups, counting for 25% and 11% of the excreted tAs respectively. In conclusion our data indicate a possible formation of AB as a result of biotransformation of other organic arsenicals. The considerable amount of DMA excreted is probably not only due to methylation of ingested iAs, but due to biotransformation of organoarsenicals making it an inappropriate biomarker of iAs exposure in populations with a high seafood intake.
海鲜是多种有机砷化合物的主要食物来源。一些海鲜物种，如甲壳类动物和海藻，也含有无机砷（iAs），这是一种众所周知的有毒物质。目前尚不清楚人类从海鲜中摄入的有机砷化合物的生物转化是否会形成健康关注的砷化合物。本控制饮食研究在 38 名志愿者中，检查了摄入单一海鲜测试餐（鳕鱼，780μg tAs，养殖三文鱼，290μg tAs 或贻贝，690μg tAs 或土豆（对照，110μg tAs）后，尿液中砷化合物（总砷（tAs）、iAs、AB（砷甜菜碱）、二甲基砷酸盐（DMA）和甲基砷酸盐（MA））的排泄情况。0-72 小时内通过尿液排泄的摄入 tAs 量在各组之间差异显著：鳕鱼 74%（52-92%），三文鱼 56%（46-82%），贻贝 49%（37-78%），对照 45%（30-60%）。估计的 AB 总尿排泄量高于贻贝组摄入 AB 的量（112%），并且摄入鳕鱼似乎也导致了更多的 AB，表明 AB 可能是由其他有机砷化合物内源性形成的。iAs 的排泄量低于摄入量（不同组中摄入 iAs 的 13-22%被排泄）。尽管所有海鲜组的 iAs+DMA+MA 摄入量都很低（摄入 tAs 的 1.2-4.5%），但贻贝和三文鱼组的尿 DMA 排泄量很高，分别占排泄 tAs 的 25%和 11%。总之，我们的数据表明 AB 可能是其他有机砷化合物生物转化的结果。排泄的大量 DMA 可能不仅归因于摄入 iAs 的甲基化，还归因于有机砷化合物的生物转化，这使其成为高海鲜摄入量人群中 iAs 暴露的不合适生物标志物。
