Evaluation of the physiologically based extraction test as an indicator of metal toxicity in mussel tissue.

In order to estimate the bioaccessibility of metals from mussel tissues, an in vitro physiologically based extraction test was applied to simulate the human gastrointestinal conditions. The samples were subjected to human body temperature, and Ag, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb and Sn were sequentially extracted with simulated gastric solution, followed by extraction with a simulated intestinal solution. Both gastric and intestinal extracted solutions and microwave-digested residue were analysed by ICP-MS. The procedure was applied to a certified reference material NIST 2977 (mussel tissue) to prove the accuracy of the method. Some mussel tissue samples from Northern Spain were subjected to this procedure to determine their metal content and their metal oral bioaccessibility.