Advances in in vitro Tests in Evaluating Bioavailability of Heavy Metals in Contaminated Soil via Oral Intake / 环境与健康杂志

ABSTRACT

As the intake routes and hazards to human health of heavy metals were well recognized,therefore the intake amount of heavy metals through foodchain has been effectively controlled and cut down. In many cases,oral ingested soil has become an important source of heavy metals in human. The traditional approach for estimating the bioavailability of heavy metals in oral ingested soil was animal (in vivo)test. Compared with animal test,in vitro test possesses several advantages including satisfactory replicability,time and cost effectiveness. Also,the results of in vitro tests showed well correlation to those of in vitro tests. The progress of development,current status and the methodology of in vitro tests in evaluating bioavailability of heavy metals in contaminated soil via oral intake were reviewed in this article. In vitro test could be used not only to estimate the bioavailability of heavy metals in soil in order to provide information for establishment of soil quality or clean-up criteria with regard to human health,but also to evaluate the effectiveness of soil remediation technologies. The in vitro test has been employed in many developed countries due to its above mentioned advantages. The use of in vitro test for screening of contaminated soil and evaluating the effectiveness of remediation technology is believed to be promising.