Excretion patterns of arsenic and its metabolites in human saliva and urine after ingestion of Chinese seaweed

There are no reports in scientific literature on arsenic species in human saliva after seaweed exposure. The present article reports for the first time the regular excretion patterns of arsenic in the saliva of volunteers with one-time ingestion of Chinese seaweed. Total arsenic and speciation analyses were carried out by high-performance liquid chromatography–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (HPLC-ICP-MS). Results show that the excretion time of total arsenic in saliva is a trifle earlier than that in urine, total arsenic in human saliva also shows a regular excretion pattern like that in urine within 72 h after exposure to seaweed. For speciation analysis, four species, including the major dimethylarsinic acid (DMA) species, were detected in urine prior to seaweed intake. Six species were detected in urine after seaweed ingestion, including DMA, methylarsonic acid (MMA), oxo-dimethylarsinoylethanol (oxo-DMAE), thio-dimethlyarsenoacetate (thio-DMAA), arsenite (As^III) and arsenate (As^V). In saliva samples, three species were found before seaweed ingestion, with the major peak identified as As^III. After consumption, the kinds of arsenic metabolites in saliva were less than those in urine. The major species was inorganic arsenic (iAs As^III+As^V), followed by DMA, MMA and a trace amount of oxo-DMAE. Taken together, the present study suggests that saliva assay can be used as a potential tool for understanding the regular excretion pattern of total arsenic after seaweed ingestion. Whether or not it’s an efficient tool for assessing arsenic metabolites in humans exposed to seaweed requires further investigation.