Environmental Biomonitoring

1. 11
STATUS OF TRACE ELEMENTS IN
MYSORE SUBJECTS
Dr. G. NAGARAJ
Lab. Asst. in Zoology
ZOOLOGY SECTION
REGIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION (NCERT)
MYSORE
e-mail: gnriem@gmail.com

2. 22
Background
• Toxic elements load create stressed environment.
• Long-term human exposure leads to somatic & genetic defect.
• Therefore, it is needed to determine status of these elements.
• Human exposures can be assessed by biomonitoring (i.e.
sampling and analysis of an individual’s tissues and fluids).
• Used in clinical evaluations.
Objectives of the study
To find out the Status of 9 trace elements (excess and
deficient) in subjects from Mysore (rural &urban)

3. 33
MATERIALS AND METHODS
1. Subjects: The residents of Mysore city & surrounding villages (M:100 & F:76)
2. Samples: Teeth, blood, urine, scalp hair & fingernail
3. Sampling places:
Teeth: JSS dental college, Mysore
Blood, scalp hair, fingernails and urine: Kamakshi, Bassappa
Memorial and Vickram Hospitals, Mysore.
4. Questionnaire: personal and sample characters were collected
5. Processing of samples:
Washing: T, F - DDW, H, N, - DDW & Acetone-wit magnetic stirrer
Drying: Hot air oven - 50C - 24hr
Digestion: HNO3 & HClO4 (4:1), Kjeldhal apparatus – 80’C - 8 hr
Make up to 10 ml with DDW and stored in refrigerator at 4’C

4. 44
Element Analysis:
Sample Element Instrument Place
Teeth
Cr, Cu, Fe,
Ni, Pb, Zn
AAS 6 VARIO
AAS-GBC 902
CES- Anna Univ,
Chennai.
SES-JNU- New Delhi.
Blood, urine,
hair, fingernail,
food
Cd, Co, Cr, Cu,
Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb,
Zn
ICP-AES - JY-
IYON-2002–2 DEE - SJCE, Mysore
Quality control studies: Certified Reference Material (CRM) i.e.
human hair powder supplied by the National Institute of
Environmental studies (NIES), Japan, (NIES-CRM) was analysed Anna
University, Chennai Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi.
Statistical analysis: Mean, Standard Deviation, Student ‘t’ test. Mean
elements concentration for each sample is given in tables.

5. SN Place/ Country Subjects
Mean elements concentration of blood (ng/ml)
Cd Co Cr Cu Fe Ni Pb Zn
1 Mysore
Rural 2.61 3.30 5.44 130.0 3294.8 10.78 19.67 391.8
Urban 3.48 4.02 8.77 117.3 4003.9 12.69 35.50 412.8
2 Reference value/ range 0.3-7.0 2.8-45 970 432000 4.5-28.0 8-269 6500
3 Kuwait
Pregnant
women
2156 2020.1 656.2
4 Germani 1.0 70
5 Hydrabad- India Controls 17.86 16.91
6 Poland Children 790
7 Austria
Ortho-
patient
0.77-
37.80
1.59-
14.11
8 Sweeden Adolescent 0.31 920 16 6100
9 Brazil CRF-patients 6660 7400
10
Poland
Women 1030 760
11 Czech 0.7 800 41 5800
12 Italy 0.19 0.72
13 Bangaladesh 1370 470
14 China
0.80-
25.2
15 Pakistan 1320
Table 1 Comparison of blood element levels of Mysore subjects with
reported reference values
Result

6. 66
Table 2 Comparison of tooth element levels of Mysore subjects with
reported reference values
SN
Place/
Country
Subjects
Mean element concentrations of tooth (µg/g)
Cr Cu Fe Ni Pb Zn
1 Mysore
Rural 15.49 3.51 62.95 19.21 42.08 136.25
Urban 20.86 3.70 77.15 27.89 68.39 167.30
2
Davangere-
India
Children 0.62 6.95 5.40 8.29 < 0.1 1.75
Adolescents 2.67 3.54 6.65 11.23 < 0.1 0.37
3
Bombay-
India
Children 3.01
Adult 8.31
4 Jordan Non-smokers 24.07
5 Venezuela Children 1.08 2.85 89.27
6 Malaysia 0.6 123
7 China 3.03-6.40 0.18-1.53
3.24-
11
74-157
8 Finland Children 0.54 143
9 Japan Children 9.27 8.41
10 Brazil Children 206

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Table 3 Comparison of urine element levels of Mysore subjects with
reported reference values
SN Place/ Country Subjects
Mean elements concentration of urine
Cd Co Cr Cu Fe Mn Ni Pb Zn
1 Mysore
Rural
0.12
(µg/l)
0.17
(µg/l)
0.17
(µg/l)
0.10
(µg/l)
0.16
(µg/l)
0.07
(µg/l)
0.33
(µg/l)
0.23
(µg/l)
0.49
(µg/l)
10.32
(µg/gcr)
13.21
(µg/gcr)
14.57
(µg/gcr)
8.88
(µg/gcr)
12.83
(µg/gcr)
5.04
(µg/gcr)
21.02
(µg/gcr
16.36
(µg/gcr
22.16
(µg/gcr
Urban
0.11
(µg/l)
0.17
(µg/l)
0.17
(µg/l)
0.13
(µg/l)
0.17
(µg/l)
0.07
(µg/l)
0.38
(µg/l)
0.23
(µg/l)
0.38
(µg/l)
5.74
(µg/gcr)
7.08
(µg/gcr)
7.90
(µg/gcr)
6.00
(µg/gcr)
8.08
(µg/gcr)
3.06
(µg/gcr)
14.26
(µg/gcr
10.28
(µg/gcr
13.90
(µg/gcr
2 Reference value/ range
0.5-4.7
(µg/l)
1.20-1.35
(µg/l)
0.24-1.8
(µg/l)
12-80
(µg/l)
1.2-600
(µg/l)
0.5-9.8
(µg/l)
2.2-2.7
(µg/l)
6.3-13
(µg/l)
361-
599
(µg/l)
3 India
790.0
(µg/dl)
4 USA General
7.9
(µg/d)
5 Korea Children
1.33
(µg/l)
5.44
(µg/l)
6 Germany
0.8
(µg/l)
3.0
(µg/l)
7 Austria
1.5
(µg/gcr)
1.1
(µg/gcr)
0.1
(µg/gcr
8 Spain Female
4.8
(µg/gcr)
73.0
(µg/gcr
9 Germany General
0.4
(µg/l)
1.0
(µg/l)
10 Rome 0.07-0.76
0.20-
1.23

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Table 4 Comparison of hair element levels of Mysore subjects with
reported reference values
SN
Place/
Country
Subjects
Mean elements concentration of hair (µg/g)
Co Cr Cu Fe Mn Ni Pb Zn
1 Mysore
Rural 3.89 0.35 4.63 4.32 1.14 0.46 0.74 96.12
Urban 4.02 0.51 3.88 4.78 1.83 0.74 1.10 108.43
2 Reference value/ range
0.0004
- 0.5
0.06-
4.10
6.6
-39
13-
177
0.2-
4.4
0.002-
1.2
4.2-52
124-
320
3 UK Mothers 18.4 7.95 122.5
4 Czech Children 0.22 12 1.6 124
5 Austria 0.01 0.84 0.32 1.47
6 Pakistan General 30.69 6.08 206.1
7 Poland
Elderly
people
11.25 17.32 176.44
8 Poland General 11.51 146.32
9
Pakistan
Control 81.68 154.2
10 Germany Children 10.6 2.7 108
11 Poland Children 12.57 4.41 173.86
12 Lublin Children 12.9 6.34 110

9. Table 5 Comparison of nail element levels of Mysore subjects with
reported reference values
SN
Place/
Country Subjects
Mean elements concentration of nail (µg/g)
Cd Co Cr Cu Fe Mn Ni Pb Zn
1 Mysore
Rural 1.58 6.17 1.51 8.24
23.4
2
5.07 2.14 1.01 140.32
Urban 1.21 2.76 1.10 6.16
13.2
1
3.84 2.19 2.96 114.72
2
New Delhi-
India
Normal Male 1.5 0.7 47.4 3.8 14.2 83.9
Normal female 1.0 1.1 51.0 4.4 24.1 222.9
3 Kenya Urban children 0.73 27.5
4 Copenhagen Normal 1.19
5 Germany Children 0.45 7.5 8.5 129
6 USA Normal
0.04
2
2.39 4.33 42.5 110
7 Pakistan Normal 0.05

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SN Element Whole
blood
Urine Scalp
hair
Finge
rnails
Teeth Inference
1 Pb  ↓ ↓ ↓ ↑ ↓ Lower status
2 Cd   BDL  N An  With in the reference
range
3 Ni  ↓     With in the reference
range
4 Co  ↓ ↑ ↑ N An ↑ Higher status
5 Cr     ↑  With in the reference
range
6 Mn BDL ↓   N An  With in the reference
range
7 Zn ↓ ↓     With in the reference
range
8 Cu ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ 
↓ Lower status
9 Fe ↓ ↓ ↓  ↑ ↓ Lower status
Table 6 Evaluation of element status of Mysore subjects in comparison
with reported reference values

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FINDINGS
1. Lower Pb and normal Ni & Cd indicates their
low pollution status.
2. Lower Cu & Fe may be due to low nutritional
intake & interaction of high Co level.
3. Higher Co from occupation, smoking and
chewing betel and nut.
4. Cr, Mn and Zn levels within the ranges of
reference values.

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THANK YOU