University of Graz, Institute of Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry for Health and Environment, Universitaetsplatz 1, 8010 Graz, Austria; University of Belgrade, Faculty of Biology, Studentski trg 16, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia.
University of Graz, Institute of Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry for Health and Environment, Universitaetsplatz 1, 8010 Graz, Austria; Ghent University, Department of Chemistry, Atomic & Mass Spectrometry Research Unit, Krijgslaan 281-S12, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
J Hazard Mater. 2022 Jun 15;432:128614. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.128614. Epub 2022 Mar 4.
Arsenic can be toxic to living organisms, depending not only on the concentration, but also its chemical form. The aim of this study was to determine arsenic concentrations and perform arsenic speciation analysis for the first time in honeybees, to evaluate their potential as biomonitors. Highest arsenic concentrations were determined in the vicinity of coal fired thermal power plants (367 µg kg), followed by an urban region (213 µg kg), with much lower concentrations in an industrial city (28.8 µg kg) and rural areas (41 µg kg). Until now, honey bees have never been used to study different arsenic species in the environment. For this reason, four extraction procedures were tested: water, hot water at 90 °C, 20% methanol, and 1% formic acid. Water at 90 °C was able to extract more than 90% of the total arsenic from honey bee samples. Inorganic arsenic (the sum of arsenite and arsenate) accounted for 95% of arsenic species in bees from three locations, except the industrial city, where it represented only 80% of arsenic species, while 15% was present as DMA.
砷对生物体可能具有毒性，其毒性不仅取决于浓度，还取决于其化学形态。本研究旨在首次测定蜜蜂体内的砷浓度并进行砷形态分析，以评估其作为生物监测器的潜力。在靠近燃煤热电厂的地区（367μg/kg），砷浓度最高，其次是城市地区（213μg/kg），工业城市（28.8μg/kg）和农村地区（41μg/kg）的浓度要低得多。到目前为止，蜜蜂从未被用于研究环境中的不同砷形态。因此，测试了四种提取程序：水、90°C 的热水、20%甲醇和 1%甲酸。90°C 的水能够从蜜蜂样本中提取超过 90%的总砷。无机砷（亚砷酸盐和砷酸盐的总和）占三地蜜蜂中砷形态的 95%，但工业城市的这一比例仅为 80%，而 DMA 则占 15%。
