title: Integrating variability in half-lives and dietary intakes to predict mercury concentration in hair.
abstract: Methylmercury (MeHg) is a bioaccumulative environmental toxin that exerts its effect on fetal and infant neurodevelopment. Mercury concentration in hair is a good biomarker of MeHg accumulation in the body, with seafood being the main source of MeHg in humans. Therefore, modeling the link between food intake and mercury concentration in hair is a key step in assessing the risk of MeHg exposure. Using repeated measurements of diet and mercury concentration in hair, we studied 125 French pregnant women who consumed seafood (e.g., fish, mollusks and crustaceans) and compared their individual estimated dietary MeHg intakes with their hair mercury concentrations. We used a one-compartment toxicokinetic model for these comparisons. We integrated and estimated the between-person variability in MeHg half-life into the model. In a second model, we took into account an intra-individual MeHg intake variability to improve the performance of the toxicokinetic model.
authors.affiliation: INRA, UR 1204 Met@risk, Food Risk Analysis Methodologies, AgroParisTech, 16, rue Claude Bernard, 75231 Paris Cedex 5, France. isabelle.albert@paris.inra.fr
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Albert
authors.forename: Grégory
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Villeret
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Paris
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Verger
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004032:Diet; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D005260:Female; D005399:Fishes; D005506:Food Contamination; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D006207:Half-Life; D006801:Humans; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis*; D008767:Methylmercury Compounds / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000633:toxicity*; D015233:Models, Statistical; D019055:No-Observed-Adverse-Effect Level; D011247:Pregnancy; D018570:Risk Assessment; D017747:Seafood; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D008767:Methylmercury Compounds; D008628:Mercury