Quantitative analysis of asbestos in drinking water and its migration in mice using fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry

Our plain-English summary of Quantitative analysis of asbestos in drinking water and its migration in mice using fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry, by B. Zheng, L. Zang, W. Li, et al (Analytica Chimica Acta, 2019).

The study

• Authors: B. Zheng, L. Zang, W. Li, H. Li, H. Wang, M. Zhang, X. Song
• Journal: Analytica Chimica Acta
• Published: 2019;1058:29-38
• Cited by: 4 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

The presence of asbestos in the environment has caused concern because exposure to asbestos can cause diseases such as stomach and pancreatic cancer. However, suitable up-to-date methods for quantitatively analyzing asbestos and assessing the toxicity of asbestos have not been developed. In this study, asbestos in drinking water was characterized using a stepwise multiple differential infra-red spectra method and a partial least squares method. The in vivo migration of ingested asbestos in mice was then investigated using the technique. The quantification limit of six kinds of asbestos by using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy in water are respectively from 0.0468 to 0.0705 mg/L, from 0.0039 to 0.0064 mg/L. The relative standard deviations were respectively less than 2.85% and 3.81%. The recoveries of the test asbestos were respectively more than 95.10% and 95.38%. Asbestos was found mainly to accumulate in the livers of mice. The Fourier-transform infra-red spectroscopy inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry method can be used to detect and precisely quantify asbestos in water samples and in animal tissues.

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In plain English

This laboratory study developed a method to measure asbestos in water by combining infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) with plasma emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), which measures silicon. The authors tested six asbestos types (actinolite, amosite, anthophyllite, chrysotile, crocidolite and tremolite) in pure water, in water mixed with silica, and in water from five rivers with asbestos added. The lowest amounts that could be reliably measured were 0.0468 to 0.0705 mg/L by ICP-OES and 0.0039 to 0.0064 mg/L by FT-IR. Recoveries of added asbestos were more than 95.10% and 95.38%, respectively. In Yellow River water, ICP-OES errors reached 200%–215%, which the authors attributed to other silicate particles, while FT-IR errors were under 2%. Ten male mice were divided into five pairs. In each pair, one mouse was fed chrysotile for five days and the other was given extra water. One pair was examined at each time point up to 60 days. Asbestos in the stomach and intestines fell over time, while the amount in the liver rose from 0 to 0.406 mg. None was found in the heart, spleen, lung or kidney. The authors concluded that asbestos fibers in water could pose unpredictable risks to humans.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Laboratory methods-development study (validation of an FT-IR and ICP-OES measurement technique using prepared and river water samples), plus a small animal experiment in mice fed chrysotile
• Who was studied: Six reference asbestos samples from the Health & Safety Laboratory (Buxton, UK); spiked water samples from the Hai, Songhua, Liao, Yangtze and Yellow Rivers; and 10 male Balb/c mice weighing 21 to 25 g, split into five groups of two (one chrysotile-fed mouse and one water-fed mouse per group, examined at days 7, 15, 30, 45 and 60)
• Exposure: Water samples were spiked with actinolite, amosite, anthophyllite, chrysotile, crocidolite and tremolite asbestos. In the mouse experiment, the No. 1 mouse in each group was fed 0.5 mL chrysotile suspension (about 1 mg per day) each day for 5 days. The No. 2 mouse was fed 0.5 mL drinking water.
• Main results:
  • Limit of quantification for the six asbestos types in water: 0.0468 to 0.0705 mg/L by ICP-OES and 0.0039 to 0.0064 mg/L by FT-IR
  • Limit of detection for the six asbestos types in water: 0.0139 to 0.0209 mg/L by ICP-OES and 0.0012 to 0.0019 mg/L by FT-IR
  • In spiked Songhua River water, relative standard deviations were less than 2.85% (ICP-OES) and 3.81% (FT-IR)
  • In the same spiked samples, recoveries were more than 95.10% (ICP-OES) and 95.38% (FT-IR)
  • For the Yellow River sample, relative errors were 200%–215% using ICP-OES but less than 2% using FT-IR
  • When all six asbestos types were added together to the five river water samples, relative errors were less than 2% and relative standard deviations less than 1%
  • In the chrysotile-fed mice, asbestos in the stomach decreased from 2.006 to 0.101 mg and in the intestines from 1.512 to 0.162 mg over the study period
  • Asbestos in the blood of the chrysotile-fed mice rose to 0.536 mg on day 30, then fell to 0.109 mg on day 60
  • Asbestos in the liver of the chrysotile-fed mice kept increasing, from 0 to 0.406 mg, throughout the study
  • No asbestos was found in the heart, spleen, lung or kidney of the mice
  • The authors reported that white asbestos fibers could be seen under a microscope in a mouse liver image
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that their combined method could measure asbestos in mixtures with silicates and sand. They also concluded that asbestos fibers in water could pose unpredictable risks to humans, and that further studies using their technique are urgently required.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The authors noted that ICP-OES measures total silicon, so silicate particles in river water can raise the readings; this caused ICP-OES results to be higher than FT-IR results for some rivers
  • The authors stated that the spectrum-matching identification method was limited by the precision and stability of the FT-IR spectra

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Infrared Spectroscopy (IR).

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