Mechanisms and health implications of toxicity increment from arsenate-containing iron minerals through in vitro gastrointestinal digestion

Inadvertent oral ingestion is an important exposure pathway of arsenic (As) containing soil and dust. Previous researches evidenced health risk of bioaccessible As from soil and dust, but it is unclear about As mobilization mechanisms in health implications from As exposure. In this study, we investigated As release behaviors and the solid–liquid interface reactions toward As(V)-containing iron minerals in simulated gastrointestinal bio-fluids. The maximum As release amount was 0.57 mg/L from As-containing goethite and 0.82 mg/L from As-containing hematite at 9 h, and the As bioaccessibility was 10.8% and 21.6%, respectively. The higher exposure risk from hematite-sorbed As in gastrointestinal fluid was found even though goethite initially contained more arsenate than hematite. Mechanism analysis revealed that As release was mainly coupled with acid dissolution and reductive dissolution of iron minerals. Proteases enhanced As mobilization and thus increased As bioaccessibility. The As(V) released and simultaneously transformed to high toxic As(III) by gastric pepsin, while As(V) reduction in intestine was triggered by pancreatin and freshly formed Fe(II) in gastric digests. CaCl(2) reduced As bioaccessibility, indicating that calcium-rich food or drugs may be effective dietary strategies to reduce As toxicity. The results deepened our understanding of the As release mechanisms associated with iron minerals in the simulated gastrointestinal tract and supplied a dietary strategy to alleviate the health risk of incidental As intake.