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Gut microbiota provides protection against arsenic (As) induced toxicity, and As metabolism is considered an important part of risk assessment associated with soil As exposures. However, little is known about microbial iron(III) reduction and its role in metabolism of soil-bound As in the human gut. Here, we determined the dissolution and transformation of As and Fe from incidental ingestion of contaminated soils as a function of particle size (

Arsenic (As) speciation and distribution are two important factors in assessing human health risk from As-contaminated soil. In this study, we used the combination of physiologically based extraction test (PBET) and Simulator of Human Intestinal Microbial Ecosystem (SHIME) to determine soil As metabolism by human gut microbiota. The results showed that the percentage of soil arsenate [As(V)] transformation reached 22.1-38.2%, while that of arsenite [As(III)] attained 66.5-92.0%; 30.1-56.4% of As(V) transformed was attached to the soil solid phase. In comparison to sequential extraction results, almost all amorphous Fe/Al-oxide-bound As was liberated in the colon phase. An X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) showed that the As(III) percentage in the soil solid phase reached 16.6-26.9% and reached 73.4% (soil 1) in the colon phase. Additionally, plenty of As(III) and different extents of methylation were also observed in colon extraction solution. As bioaccessibility in the colon phase was 1.8-2.8 times that in the small intestinal phase. Our results indicated that human gut microbiota increased As bioaccessibility, and large amounts of As(III) were adsorbed onto the soil solid phase as a result of microbial reduction. Determining As speciation and distribution in extraction solution and soil solid phases will allow for an accurate assessment of the risk to human health upon soil As exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An extensive data set of total arsenic analysis for 901 polished (white) grain samples, originating from 10 countries from 4 continents, was compiled. The samples represented the baseline (i.e., not specifically collected from arsenic contaminated areas), and all were for market sale in major conurbations. Median total arsenic contents of rice varied 7-fold, with Egypt (0.04 mg/kg) and India (0.07 mg/kg) having the lowest arsenic content while the U.S. (0.25 mg/kg) and France (0.28 mg/kg) had the highest content Global distribution of total arsenic in rice was modeled by weighting each country's arsenic distribution by that country's contribution to global production. A subset of 63 samples from Bangladesh, China, India, Italy, and the U.S. was analyzed for arsenic species. The relationship between inorganic arsenic content versus total arsenic content significantly differed among countries, with Bangladesh and India having the steepest slope in linear regression, and the U.S. having the shallowest slope. Using country-specific rice consumption data, daily intake of inorganic arsenic was estimated and the associated internal cancer risk was calculated using the U.S. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]