Bioaccessibility of metal cations in soil is linearly related to its water exchange rate constant

Site-specific risk assessments often incorporate the concepts of bioaccessibility (i.e., contaminant fraction released into gastrointestinal fluids) or bioavailability (i.e., contaminant fraction absorbed into systemic circulation) into the calculation of ingestion exposure. We evaluated total and bioaccessible metal concentrations for 19 soil samples under simulated stomach and duodenal conditions using an in vitro gastrointestinal model. We demonstrated that the median bioaccessibility of 23 metals ranged between <1 and 41% under simulated stomach conditions and <1 and 63% under simulated duodenal conditions. Notably, these large differences in metal bioaccessibility were independent of equilibrium solubility and stability constants. Instead, the relationship (stomach phase R = 0.927; duodenum phase R = 0.891) between bioaccessibility and water exchange rates of metal cations (kH2O) indicated that desorption kinetics may influence if not control metal bioaccessibility.