Application of an in vitro digestion model for Po bioaccessibility assessment in seafood.

This study aims to investigate the bioaccessibility of Po in seafood and the impact of food preparation on this radionuclide. Polonium bioaccessibility is the fraction of Po mobilised from food matrices into digestive extractants when applying an in vitro digestion model. The degree of bioaccessibility of Po in food has important implications for estimating ingestion doses from this radionuclide. The simulation of gastrointestinal digestion was divided into three stages through the use of synthetic saliva, gastric and bile-pancreas solutions. Following pre-treatment with a saliva solution, raw and cooked seafood samples underwent one of the following treatments: (a) simulated gastric digestion only or (b) simulated complete gastrointestinal digestion (gastric digestion followed by bile-pancreas digestion). No significant difference (P > 0.05) in Po mobility was found between samples that underwent gastric digestion compared to those that only underwent gastro-intestinal digestion. However, a significant difference (P < 0.05) in Po bioaccessibility was found between raw and cooked seafood undergoing both gastric and gastro-intestinal digestion.