Bioavailability of Lead to Juvenile Swine Dosed with Soil from the Smuggler Mountain NPL Site of Aspen, Colorado

Abstract

Bioavailability of lead (Pb) has become an issue in quantifying exposure of sensitive populations and, where necessary, establishing cleanup levels for contaminated soil. Immature swine were used as a model for young children to estimate the degree to which Pb from two fully characterized composite samples from the Smuggler Mountain Superfund Site in Aspen, Colorado may be bioavailable to resident children. The composite soils contained 14,200 and 3870 μg Pb/g of soil. Relative and absolute enteric bioavailabilities of Pb in soil (oral dose groups of 75, 225, and 675 μg Pb/kg body wt/day) were estimated by comparison with an orally administered soluble Pb salt (lead acetate = PbAc₂·3H₂O) (dose groups of 0, 75, and 225 μg Pb/kg body wt/day) and an intravenously administered aqueous solution of Pb (100 μg Pb/kg/day) from the same trihydrate salt administered daily for 15 days to 50 juvenile swine. The biological responses (area under the blood Pb concentration–time curve, and the terminal liver–, kidney–, and bone–lead concentrations) produced by Pb from PbAc₂·3H₂O and lead-contaminated soils were determined. This study revealed Pb from soil containing 14,200 μg Pb/g of soil had a bioavailability relative to Pb from PbAc (RBA), ranging from 56% based on the area under the blood lead concentration–time curve (AUC) versus dose, to 86% based on calculations from liver–Pb loading versus dose. Similarly, Pb from soil containing 3870 μg Pb/g of soil had an RBA ranging from 58% based on the AUC versus dose, to 74% based on calculations from liver– and kidney–Pb loading versus dose. Bioavailability of Pb in soils may be more or less than EPA's default RBA of 60%, therefore, measuring site-specific RBAs provides a basis for improved exposure and risk assessment.