Comparison of urinary arsenic metabolites between fishing village residents and residents exposed to arsenic in drinking water

Objective To determine the arsenic metabolites and total arsenic(TAs)in the urine of fishing village residents and residents exposed to arsenic in drinking water.Methods Three villages in Inner Mongolia with high(0.16 mg/L,0.09 mg/L)and normal arsenic(<0.01 mg/L)in drinking water and a fishing village were selected.Hydride generation atomic absorption spectroscopy was used to detecturinary arsenic species among residents of the villages.Results The TAs of the residents in fishing village was lower than that of in residents exposed to water with 0.16 mg/L arsenic and higher than that of with 0.09 mg/L(P<0.05).Urinary inorganic arsenic(iAs)in residents of fishing village was lower than that of the residents exposed to water with 0.09 mg/L and 0.16 mg/L arsenic with significanct differences bewteen the residents of the four groups.The percent of urinary iAs in residents of fishing village was lower than tha to fresidents in other three villages(P<0.05).There were significant differences in urinary methyl arsenic and dmiethyl arsenic between the residents of the four villages.Urinary trmiethyl arsenic was detected only in residents of the fishing village.Conclusion Urinary TAs can not be used as the only indicator of a rsenic exposure.Analytical methods must be used to distinguish urinary metabolite of inorganic arsenic and organic arsenic.