Evaluating environmental exposure on children: How can stable isotope techniques contribute?

Abstract

The authors review the recent literature, including their own approaches, of stable isotope techniques applied to determining environmental effects on the health of children. The techniques involve the measurement of variations in natural isotope abundances of some elements with environmental significance, the use of enriched stable isotopes for in vivo and in situ tracer studies, in vitro isotope dilution techniques, and organ function tests using stable isotope-labelled compounds. These techniques are non-invasive and can be expected to contribute new insights into the behavior of different pollutants and their effect on children's health. Some of the techniques have been used in clinical research and diagnosis but their adaptation for investigations of clinically healthy children exposed to environmental pollution is desirable. Currently, as one of the specific aims of the Lepizig group of Human Exposure Research, the experience in biochemical and clinical isotope applications is being adapted to the environmental challenges in the heavily polluted industrial regions of Saxony.

Key Words:

• Air pollutants
• children
• environmental exposure
• men
• natural isotope variations
• organ function tests
• review
• stable isotopes
• tracer techniques