Labile metals bioavailable fraction

Metal bioavailability is the fraction of the total metal occurring in the soil matrix, which can be taken up by an organism and can react with its metabolic system (Campbell, 1995). Metals can be plant-bioavailable, if they come in contact with plants (physical accessibility) and have a form which can be uptaken by plant roots (chemical accessibility). Soil metals become accessible for humans by ingestion, inhalation and dermal contact. Available forms of PTMs are not necessarily associated with one particular chemical species or a specific soil component. Main soil PTMs pools of different mobility, target organisms and routes of transfer are sketched in Fig. 9.2. The most labile fraction, corresponding to the soluble metal pool, occurs as either free ions or soluble complexed ions and is considered the... 

Table 13.2 shows the concentrations of Cu2+ in tap water and lake water determined by the MPA-Gly-Gly-His modified electrode and compared with those of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The measured concentration of Cu2+ in tap water when dilutions were accounted for using the MPA-Gly-Gly-His modified electrode was 0.55 +0.08 pM (95% confidence interval). This value is much lower than the copper concentration measured by ICP-MS of 1.70+0.15 pM (95% confidence interval). The peptide-modified electrode measures free Cu2+ or weakly bound copper complexes rather than the total metal-ion concentration measured by ICP-MS. Hence the use of peptides has the ability to measure metal-ion bioavailability for specific species. The results are consistent with others who have also shown that the labile fraction of copper is much less than the total copper [7]. 

Shan, X. Q., Wang, Z. W., Wang, W. S., Zhang, S. Z., and Wen, B. (2003). Labile rhizosphere soil solution fraction for prediction of bioavailability of heavy metals and rare earth elements to plants. Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 375(5), 400-407. 

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