Exposure to melamine and its derivatives in Chinese adults: The cumulative risk assessment and the effect on routine blood parameters

• Published in: Ecotoxicology and environmental safety 2022-08, Vol.241, p.113714-113714, Article 113714
• Main Authors: Liu, ShaoJie, Zhao, Qi, Huang, FeiFei, Yang, QiFan, Wang, YiFei, Wang, HangWei, Sun, YongYun, Yan, YuJia, He, GengSheng, Zhao, GenMing, Dong, RuiHua, Chen, Bo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cumulative risk assessment; Hazard index; Hazard quotient; Melamine and its derivatives; Routine blood parameters
• ISSN: 0147-6513; 1090-2414
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2022.113714

Melamine (MEL) and its derivatives, ammeline (AMN), ammelide (AMD), cyanuric acid (CYA) are widely existed in environmental media. Animal studies have reported the cumulative risk assessment (CRA) of simultaneous exposure to MEL and its derivatives and explored the associations between exposure and routine blood parameters. Such information is largely unknown in human studies. In this study, we detected the urinary concentrations of MEL and its derivatives in 239 Chinese adults to conduct the CRA by evaluating their hazard quotients (HQ) and hazard Index (HI), and also explored the possible associations between exposure and measured routine blood parameters in study population. The detectable frequencies of MEL, AMN, AMD and CYA were 96.65%, 41.00%, 97.91% and 97.07%, respectively. The median values of creatinine (Cr)-adjusted MEL, AMN, AMD, CYA and the total concentrations of MEL and its derivatives (∑MEL) were 11.41 μg/g Cr, not detected (ND), 2.64 μg/g Cr, 15.30 μg/g Cr, 35.02 μg/g Cr, respectively. There were 9 (3.77%) participants with estimated daily intakes (EDIs) of CYA exceeding the tolerable daily intake (TDI) of 2500 ng/kg bw/day, and 12 (5.02%) participants with HI of ∑MEL exposure exceeding 1 based on the strictest TDI value. Urinary concentrations of MEL and its derivatives were positively associated with specific routine blood parameters, including hematocrit, hemoglobin, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, white blood cell, neutrophil count (P