Lead bioaccessibility in 12 contaminated soils from China: correlation to lead relative bioavailability and lead in different fractions

This study investigated the relationship between Pb relative bioavailability (RBA) and bioaccessibility, and their relationships with Pb in different pools in soils. Twelve Pb-contaminated soils representing different contamination sources from China were analyzed for Pb bioaccessibility using four in vitro methods (UBM, SBRC, IVG, and PBET), Pb-RBA using a mouse blood model, and Pb fractionation using sequential extraction. Lead bioaccessibility in the gastric phase (GP) and Pb-RBA was generally lower in mining soils (0.46–29% and 7.0–26%) than smelting (19–92% and 31–84%) and farming soils (13–99% and 51–61%), with more Pb in the residual fraction in mining soils. Lead bioaccessibility varied with assays, with SBRC (3.0–99%) producing significantly higher bioaccessible Pb than other assays (0.46–84%) in the gastric phase. However, Pb bioaccessibility in the intestinal phase (IP) of all assays sharply decreased to 0.01–20% possibly due to Pb sorption to solid phase at higher pH. Lead bioaccessibility by UBM-GP assay was best correlated with Pb-RBA (r2 = 0.67), followed by IVG–GP (r2 = 0.55). Among different Pb fractions, strong correlation was found between Pb bioaccessibility/Pb-RBA and the sum of exchangeable and carbonate fractions. Our study suggested that UBM-GP assay has potential to determine Pb bioaccessibility in contaminated soils in China.