US EPA

2572588 

Journal Article 

Hair can be a good biomarker of occupational exposure to mercury vapor: simulated experiments and field data analysis 

Li, P; Feng, X; Qiu, G; Wan, Q 

2011 

1 

Science of the Total Environment
ISSN: 0048-9697
EISSN: 1879-1026 

Elsevier 

AMSTERDAM 

409 

20 

4484-4488 

English 

21784505 

10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.06.045 

WOS:000295306500038 

Generally, urine mercury (U-Hg) is widely used for assessment of inorganic mercury (I-Hg) exposure in humans. The reliability of scalp hair as an indicator of mercury vapor exposure is contentious. However, significant correlations were found between hair total mercury (T-Hg) and U-Hg and between hair I-Hg and total gaseous mercury (TGM) in ambient air in our previous studies. Simulated experiments were designed to assess the contribution of direct absorption/adsorption of mercury vapor in the hair. Results indicated that the increases of hair T-Hg concentrations were less than 1 μg/g, which was negligible compared with hair T-Hg concentrations in occupationally exposed workers. The β-mercaptoethanol washing can remove 30% of mercury (Hg) in the exposed hair samples. The inhaled Hg constituted the major fraction (97.4%) of I-Hg exposure for the artisanal Hg mining workers. From the simulated experiments and field data analysis, we can conclude that hair I-Hg can be a useful tool for monitoring occupational exposure to Hg vapor. 

Hair; Occupational exposure; Biomarker; Mercury vapor; Washing effect 

SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT