Human Tissues and Body Fluids

The application of 2,3-dimercaptopro-pane-1-sulfonic acid (DMPS) increases the renal excretion of mercury. This increase depends heavily on the DMPS dosage, the form of application (oral or intravenous), and the duration of urine collection (spontaneous urine sample, collection of urine for 4 or 24 h) (Schiele et al. 1989). After oral administration of 300 mg DMPS, the following upper limits of the reference 

According to the Umweltsurvey 1990/92 (Krause et al. 1996), the median blood level of mercury in German adults is 0.6 pg and the 98% percentile 3.0 pg Fish consumption increases the concentration of total mercury in blood, predominantly by an increase of methylmercury (Akagi et al. 

Inserted amalgam fillings also increase blood mercury levels (Kingman et al. 1998), but this only occurs during the first few days after insertion or removal of dental amalgam (Kremers et al. 1999). In contrast to the urinary concentrations, blood levels monitor predominantly the short-term mercury burden. In burdened populations, mercury concentrations in blood may exceed 100 pg L (Akagi et al. 1995, Drasch et al. 2001). 

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Methods for Determining Biomarkers of Exposure and Effect. Analytical methods with satisfactory sensitivity and precision are available to determine the levels of americium in human tissues and body fluids. However, improved methods are needed to assess the biological effects of americium in tissues. 

It is not the purpose of this article to review all dehydrogenases that are known at present and not even all of those that have been described in human tissues and body fluids. A few of them have been selected that are of importance for diagnostic, prognostic or, as therapy controlling tools or, that are known as etiologic factors of pathological states. 

Exposure Levels in Humans. The levels of cyanide and thiocyanate in various human tissues and body fluids of both control and occupationally exposed groups and of smokers and nonsmokers are available (see Sections 2.3.4, 2.6.1, and 5.5). The levels of these chemicals in humans consuming foods containing cyanogenic materials also are available. 

Exposure Levels in Humans. No data on disulfoton levels in various human tissues and body fluids of a control population, populations near hazardous waste sites, or occupationally exposed groups in the United States are available. The levels of disulfoton metabolites (DEP [0.05 ppm], DETP [0.04 ppm], DEPTh [0.008 ppm], dimethyl phosphate [0.04 ppm], dimethyl thiophosphate [0.180 ppm], and dimethyl phosphorothiolate [0.004 ppm]) in the urine of disulfoton formulators have been measured (Brokopp et al. 1981). Data on the levels of disulfoton and its metabolites in body tissues and fluids are needed to estimate the extent of exposure to disulfoton. 

Methods for Determining Biomarkers of Exposure and Effect. A few authors have found elevated levels of thorium in tissues of thorium workers and these studies have been discussed in Sections 2.6 and 5.4.4. However, there are no data in the literature that correlate the concentrations of thorium in any human tissue or body fluid with its level of exposure. If a biomarker for thorium in human tissue or fluid were available, the level of the biomarker in a tissue could be used as an indicator of exposure to thorium. Analytical methods with satisfactory sensitivity are available to determine the levels of thorium in most human tissues and body fluids of exposed and background population, but the recovery of thorium by these methods needs further refinement. 

Multitarget forensic applications of HPLC for other drug classes are also available in the literature. Josefsson et al. [77] applied HPLC-MS-MS to the determination of 19 neuroleptics and their major metabolites in human tissues and body fluids. Optimal separation was achieved using a cyano column within a 9 min gradient run. Detection was curried out in SRM reaching LQDs down to the lower ng/mL level, although more than a 10-fold difference in signal response was observed between analytes. The method was subjected to partial validation only. 

G.V. Iyengar, W.E. Kollmer, H.J.M. Bowen, The Elemental Composition of Human Tissues and Body Fluids, Verlag Chemie, Weinheim, 1978. 

Human exposure to chemicals and complex mixtures is summarized on the basis of elements such as production, use, occurrence in the environment and determinations in human tissues and body fluids. Quantitative data are given when available. Exposure to biological agents is described in terms of transmission and prevalence of infection. 

Selected applications for investigations of human tissues and body fluids by ICP-MS and LA-ICP-MS... 

No estimate on PBB intake by the general population from air, water, and food was located in the literature. However, current intake of PBBs for the neral population is expected to be zero or very small. However, populations near the contaminated farms in lower Michigan may still have low exposures from air, water, and food. The level of PBBs in human tissue and body fluids in the exposed population of Michigan has been extensively studied (Brilliant et al. 1978 Cordle et al. 1978 Eyster et al. 1983 Humphrey and Hayner 1975 Lambert et al. 1990 Landrigan et al. 1979 Wolff et al. 1979a,... 

The concentrations of PBBs in the breast milk of females from the lowo peninsula of Michigan (exposed area) were generally higher than in breast milk of females from the upper peninsula (farthest from the sources) (Brilliant et al. 1978). PBB levels in breast milk of five females from the exposed farms were 0.21 92.7 mg/kg (Cordleet al. 1978 Humphrey and Hayner 1976). In a cohort of Michigan residents, the ratio of PBBs in breast milk to maternal serum was 107 122 to 1 and in adipose tissue to breast milk was 1.1 1.5 to 1 (Eyster et al. 1983 Landri n et al. 1979). The concentrations of PBBs found in human tissues and body fluids are given in Table 6-4. Recent levels of PBBs in human breast milk (i.e., 1990 to present) were not located (WHO 1994b). 

Problems with contamination and losses of volatile boron compounds during sample preparation have limited the reliable documentation of boron concentrations in human tissue and body fluids. A complex technique involving a porous graphite column—inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrophotometry (ICP-AES)— and an ICP time of flight mass spectrometer (TOF-MS) has been developed for investigations of boron neutron capture in cancer therapy. Adaptation of this method to nutritional studies of boron should be possible. 

Exposure Levels in Humans. Only limited data on the levels of 2,4-DNP in human tissue and body fluids are available. Most of these data are quite dated and were obtained using outdated analytical methods (Davidson and Shapiro 1934 Gisclard and Woodward 1946 Perkins 1919). Studies that determine the levels of 2,4-DNP and its major metabolite (2-amino-4-nitrophenol) in the blood and urine of the general population and in people living near hazardous waste sites containing these pollutants would be useful. This information is necessary for assessing the need to conduct health studies on these populations. 

Data regarding distribution of PCBs in human tissues and body fluids are derived mainly from the study of populations exposed in occupational settings or from those who have consumed contaminated food. It is generally agreed that the inhalation and dermal routes are the main exposure routes to PCBs in occupational settings (Wolff 1985). For the general population, the oral route is the major route for PCB exposure (Humphrey 1983). 

Iyengar GV, Kollmer WE, Bowen HIM. 1978. The elemental composition of human tissues and body fluids A compilation of values for adults. Weinheim, NY Verlag Chemie. 

In the environmental field, specific attention is needed for the well known heavy metals, e.g. Pb, Cd, Hg, As, Tl. Another major interest is the interactions of these elements with the essential trace elements in the organism. Therefore not only the pure pollution view is in the foreground, but also the biochemistry of these elements which may have a toxic action in low concentration ranges. But the main point in the environmental field is the control of the environmental load of different substances. In this connection a lot of different matrices - soil, sediments, water, air, aquatic and terrestrial plants, animals and also human tissues and body fluids - are of interest. 

Iyengar, G. V. "Concentrations of 15 Trace Elements in Some Selected Adult Human Tissues and Body Fluids of Clinical Interest from Several Countries" Juelich Nuclear Research Center, Rep. No. 1974, Feb 1985. 

Iyengar, G. V. "Normal Values for the Elemental Composition of Human Tissues and Body Fluids a New Look at an Old Problem," in "Trace Substances in Environmental Health - XIX" Hemphill, D. D., Ed. Univ of Missouri, Columbia, 1985, 277. 

Elevated total mercury concentrations in various human tissues and body fluids are associated with increasing consumption of fish, use of skin-lightening creams containing mercuric ammonium chloride, and recipients or users of ethylmercury compounds as wound disinfectants moreover, hair concentrations >3.1 mg methylmercury/kg DW were found in Iraqis that died in 1971 from consuming methylmercury-contaminated wheat. 

Guidelines for Handling Human Tissues and Body Fluids Used in Research, National Disease Research Interchange, Philadelphia, PA, 1987. 

While less is known about the selenium content of the various human tissues and body fluids, the results appear to reflect dietary intake [49]. The total body content of North Americans, as estimated fixirn autopsy, ranged from 13 to 20 mg [58], whereas for New Zealanders the range was only 3-6 mg [59]. The order is in agreement with Se in the body tissues. In China, a wide range of Se intakes is reflected in the wide range of Se levels in blood, tissue, and urine. 

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