Department of Pure and Applied Sciences, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Urbino, Italy.
Department of Biomolecular Sciences, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Urbino, Italy.
Environ Res. 2022 Apr 15;206:112579. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.112579. Epub 2021 Dec 27.
From a toxicological point of view, particulates and fibres with high solubility in water and/or in biological environments have not been considered in detail and the knowledge to date in this area is very scarce. In this study, the water-soluble natural epsomite fibres from Perticara Mine (Italy) were investigated using SEM-EDS, XRPD, ICP-AES and alpha spectrometry measurements which were combined and integrated to characterise the fibres' morphology, crystal chemistry and mineralogy. The morphological and morphometric results showed that most of the fibres are of inhalable size (D 5.09 μm) and can be potentially adsorbed from all parts of the respiratory tract. Chemical analysis reveals significant amounts of toxic elements (As, Co, Fe, Mn, Ni, Sr, Ti, Zn) and surprisingly high contents of radioactive isotopes (Po and Th) in epsomite crystals, making the inhalation of these fibres potentially hazardous to human health. Through this study, we want to focus on soluble minerals, such as epsomite, which can be present in both natural and anthropic environments and have never been considered from the point of view of their potential hazard.
从毒理学的角度来看，水溶性好和/或在生物环境中溶解度高的颗粒和纤维尚未得到详细研究，目前这方面的知识非常匮乏。在这项研究中，使用扫描电子显微镜-能谱仪（SEM-EDS）、X 射线粉末衍射（XRPD）、电感耦合等离子体原子发射光谱（ICP-AES）和α谱测量法对来自意大利 Perticara 矿的水溶性天然泻盐纤维进行了研究，这些测量法结合并集成在一起以对纤维的形态、晶体化学和矿物学进行了表征。形态和形态计量学的结果表明，大多数纤维的尺寸为可吸入尺寸（D 5.09μm），并且可以从呼吸道的各个部位潜在地被吸附。化学分析表明泻盐晶体中含有大量的有毒元素（As、Co、Fe、Mn、Ni、Sr、Ti、Zn）和令人惊讶的高放射性同位素（Po 和 Th）含量，使得吸入这些纤维对人体健康具有潜在危害。通过这项研究，我们想关注可溶性矿物，如泻盐，它们既存在于自然环境中，也存在于人为环境中，但从未从其潜在危害的角度考虑过。
