Compound-Specific Stable Isotope Analysis Provides New Insights for Tracking Human Monomethylmercury Exposure Sources

Monomethylmercury (MMHg) exposure can induce adverse neurodevelopmental effects in humans and is a global environmental health concern. Human exposure to MMHg occurs predominately through the consumption of fishery foods and rice in Asia, but it is challenging to quantify these two exposure sources. Here, we innovatively utilized MMHg compound-specific stable isotope analyses (MMHg-CSIA) of the hair to quantify the human MMHg sources in coastal and inland areas, where fishery foods and rice are routinely consumed. Our data showed that the fishery foods and rice end members had distinct Delta(HgMMHg)-Hg-199 values in both coastal and inland areas. The Delta(HgMMHg)-Hg-199 values of the human hair were comparable to those of fishery foods but not those of rice. Positive shifts in the delta(HgMMHg)-Hg-202 values of the hair from diet were observed in the study areas. Additionally, significant differences in delta Hg-202 versus Delta Hg-199 were detected between MMHg and inorganic Hg (IHg) in the human hair but not in fishery foods and rice. A binary mixing model was developed to estimate the human MMHg exposures from fishery foods and rice using Delta Hg-199(MMHg) data. The model results suggested that human MMHg exposures were dominated (>80%) by fishery food consumption and were less affected by rice consumption in both the coastal and inland areas. This study demonstrated that the MMHg-CSIA method can provide unique information for tracking human MMHg exposure sources by excluding the deviations from dietary surveys, individual MMHg absorption/demethylation efficiencies, and the confounding effects of IHg.