The Study of Biological Monitoring of Inorganic Arsenic Exposure.

This review will describe method for biological monitoring of inorganic arsenic exposure, that delineates the chemical species of arsenic measured in urine. The studies established a method for exposure-level-dependent biological monitoring of inorganic arsenic exposure. Low-level exposure could be monitored only by determining the urinary inorganic arsenic concentration. High-level exposures clearly produced increased urinary inorganic arsenic, methylated arsenic (MA), dimethylated arsenic (DMA) and the sum of urinary inorganic arsenic and its metabolites (inorganic arsenic+MA+DMA) could be determined. Urinary arsenobetaine proved to be specifically seafood-derived arsenic, which could be distinguished from occupational arsenic exposure. There is increased use of gallium arsenide and indium arsenide in the semiconductor industry today. The determination of arsenic in ambient air is difficult to carry out in semiconductor factories. Monitoring arsenic exposure by determining the arsenic in the hair appeared to be of value only when used for environmental monitoring of arsenic rather than for biological monitoring.