Biomonitoring as assessment of human exposure to heavy metals. Speciation of Hg in fish food and impact on human health

A biomonitoring method has been developed for determination of both inorganic and organic Hg in fresh and canned fish and also in blood based on ICP-MS coupled with high performance liquid chromatography ( HPLC). In this way, the species of Hg which are present in organic samples like fish food can be determined. The speciation was developed to determine the methyl mercury content and, concomitantly, the atomic absorption spectroscopy method was used to determine the total mercury content in fish food. The present study reports the concentrations of total mercury and its speciation in fresh and canned fish food and these amounts have been found to be significantly higher in predatory species of fish while the most abundant species was methyl mercury. Moreover, some correlations have been performed between biomonitoring results and determination of mercury compounds in fish samples purchased from a local market in order to evaluate the speciation of Hg in fish food.