Banerjee Shuvam, Dhar Shrinjana, Sudarshan M, Chakraborty Anindita, Bhattacharjee Sandip, Bhattacharjee Pritha
Environmental epigenomics Laboratory, Department of Environmental Science, University of Calcutta, 35 Ballygunge Circular Road, Kolkata 700019, West Bengal, India; UGC-DAE Consortium for Scientific Research, Kolkata Center, Sector-III, LB-8, Bidhan Nagar, Kolkata 700106, West Bengal, India.
Environmental epigenomics Laboratory, Department of Environmental Science, University of Calcutta, 35 Ballygunge Circular Road, Kolkata 700019, West Bengal, India.
J Trace Elem Med Biol. 2023 Jan;75:127103. doi: 10.1016/j.jtemb.2022.127103. Epub 2022 Nov 11.
Arsenic toxicity is one of the major health issues throughout the world. Approximately 108 countries that account for more than 230 million people worldwide are at high risk of arsenic poisoning mainly through drinking water and diet. Chronic exposure to arsenic causes several pathophysiological end-points including skin lesions, peripheral neuropathy, cancer, etc. In India, the population living in the lower Gangetic basin possesses a great risk of arsenicosis and other diseases. Scientists are trying to understand the gene-environmental interactions behind arsenic toxicity revealing the potential role of genetic variants of individuals. Few pieces of the literature showed that the population is not exposed to a mixture of metals. Hence, in this study, an attempt has been made to explore whether some other metals play a synergistic role in As-induced toxicity.
For this, an assessment of the level of heavy metals using ED-XRF in soil, vegetables from As-exposed areas along with quantification of the heavy metal concentration in human blood and hair of the As-exposed population were conducted.
Results show the concentration of urinary arsenic is very high signifying the magnitude of the exposure. In addition to this, the levels of iron (Fe), copper (Cu), chromium (Cr) were found to be very high in soil and Fe, manganese (Mn), lead (Pb) in vegetables were exceeding the WHO/FAO recommended permissible limit. However, Fe and zinc (Zn) were predominantly high in whole blood and hair of the arsenic-exposed population when compared with the control population.
It can be confirmed that the population from Murshidabad is exposed to As and other heavy metals through drinking water as well as food. Particularly for this population, Fe, Zn and rubidium (Rb) may play a synergistic role in arsenic-induced toxicity. However, further studies on the large population-based investigation are required to establish the chemistry of the metal toxicity.
砷中毒是全球主要的健康问题之一。全球约有108个国家、超过2.3亿人口面临砷中毒的高风险，主要通过饮用水和饮食接触砷。长期接触砷会导致多种病理生理终点，包括皮肤病变、周围神经病变、癌症等。在印度，生活在恒河下游流域的人口面临砷中毒和其他疾病的巨大风险。科学家们试图了解砷中毒背后的基因-环境相互作用，揭示个体基因变异的潜在作用。少数文献表明，该人群未接触金属混合物。因此，本研究试图探讨其他一些金属是否在砷诱导的毒性中起协同作用。
为此，使用能量色散X射线荧光光谱法（ED-XRF）对土壤、砷暴露地区蔬菜中的重金属含量进行了评估，并对砷暴露人群的血液和头发中的重金属浓度进行了定量分析。
结果显示尿砷浓度非常高，表明暴露程度。除此之外，发现土壤中铁（Fe）、铜（Cu）、铬（Cr）的含量非常高，蔬菜中的铁、锰（Mn）、铅（Pb）超过了世界卫生组织/联合国粮食及农业组织推荐的允许限量。然而，与对照人群相比，砷暴露人群的全血和头发中主要是铁和锌（Zn）含量较高。
可以确认，默沙达巴德的人群通过饮用水和食物接触砷和其他重金属。特别是对于该人群，铁、锌和铷（Rb）可能在砷诱导的毒性中起协同作用。然而，需要对大量人群进行进一步研究，以确定金属毒性的化学机制。
