Estimation of Lead and Arsenic Bioavailability Using a Physiologically Based Extraction Test

Abstract

The physiologically based extraction test (PBET) is an in vitro test system for predicting the bioavailability of metals from a solid matrix and incorporates gastrointestinal tract parameters representative of a human (including stomach and small intestinal pH and chemistry, soil-to-solution ratio, stomach mixing, and stomach emptying rates). For lead (Pb), the results of the PBET are linearly correlated with results from a Sprague-Dawley rat model ( r 2 = 0.93 between in vitro and in vivo results, n = 7). For arsenic (As), the results of the PBET are overpredicting bioavailability study results in rabbit and primate models (2−11% difference between in vitro and in vivo results, depending on the animal model). The PBET was not designed to supplant bioavailability studies using animal models, but rather to estimate Pb and As bioavailability when animal study results are not available. Dissolution of Pb in the acidic stomach environment was strongly pH dependent; the extent of dissolution decreased by 65% when stomach pH was increased from 1.3 to 2.5. Arsenic solubility decreased by only 16% over the same pH range. Lead was removed from solution to a greater extent than As by neutralization during the small intestinal simulation, consistent with adsorption and precipitation reactions occurring for Pb but not As at neutral pH values. In addition to providing mechanistic explanations for controls on Pb and As bioavailability, the PBET allows estimates of site-specific Pb and As bioavailability from soil for the purpose of exposure assessment.