Human biomonitoring of antimony

The aim of the study was to test the suitability of 24-h urine, blood, and scalp-hair samples as surrogates for the determination of internal exposure to antimony in case of a strongly elevated soil contamination with antimony. The bio-monitoring was performed using graphite-furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. Blood and scalp-hair samples were decomposed by microwave digestion. No elevated content of antimony could be detected in 24-h urine, blood, or scalp-hair samples from the study participants geogenically exposed to antimony. The results did not show a correlation between the antimony contents in the soil of the housing area and those in urine, blood, or hair. Surprisingly, the reference group (n = 47) showed a significantly higher median antimony excretion rate than did the exposed group (n = 89; 1.23 versus 0.60 micrograms Sb/24 h). Additionally, the scalp-hair contents of the reference group were also significantly higher than those of the exposed persons (0.045 versus 0.026 mg Sb/kg). Blood contents of the two study groups were 0.57 and 0.48 microgram Sb/l, respectively. The detection limit for urine and blood was 0.5 microgram Sb/l and that for scalp hair was 0.005 mg Sb/kg. Of all samples of urine, blood, and scalp hair analyzed, 31.2%, 49.3%, and 10.3%, respectively, were below the limit of analytical detection. The antimony contents recorded for both study groups in urine, blood, and scalp hair can be judged as being within the normal range. The rate of transfer of antimony from the soil to humans in the exposure case described seemed to be very low. With respect to analytical practicability and validity, urine was the surrogate which deemed most useful for determination of internal exposure to antimony.