Possible Health Assessment For Heavy Metal Concentration in Water, Sediment, and Fish Species and Pregnant Women’s Biomonitoring in Miankaleh Peninsula, Iran

A human bio monitoring study, investigating most consumed fish species exposure to heavy metals was done in northern part of Iran, Miankale Peninsula, in winter 2019. Metals levels were evaluated in various tissues of fish, as well as Turkmen pregnant women’s biological indicators. For this purpose, 20 water and sediment, 14 fish and 16 human samples were collected. Concentration of Cr, Co, Cu, As, Hg and Pb metals were determined by ICP-MS device. The highest mean concentration of Cu and Cr in water (93.35 and 80.91 µg/l respectively), Hg and Pb in sediment (7.4 µg/g for both), Cu and Pb in liver (27 and18.9 µg/g for C.carpio; 1414 and 31.7 µg/g for L.auratus), muscle (10 and 18.8 for C.carpio; 37.2 and 8.27 µg/g for L.auratus), and skin (26.4 and 9.9 for C.carpio; 10.8 and 11.74 µg/g for L.auratus) of both fish species, and Cu in blood (2.53 mg/l), hair (8.87 µg/g), fingernail (36.46 µg/g), and toenail (29.04 µg/g) samples were observed, while Co had the lowest concentration in all samples. Liver in fish samples and fingernail in pregnant women were the tissues with the highest heavy metals accumulation, whereas the lowest concentrations of heavy metals were observed in the muscles of fish species and pregnant women’s blood sample. Hg concentration in water and sediments, the muscle of fish, and pregnant women’s blood and hair samples were higher than the values suggested by various organizations. This study showed that the level of heavy metals, especially Hg, in water, sediments and fish is a threat to human health. Therefore, it is recommended that the necessary information about the consumption of seafood with high amounts of Hg should be provided in this area.