Risk assessment of total and bioavailable potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in urban soils of Baghdad-Iraq.

The solubility of soil-associated potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in surrogate biological fluids provides valuable information about their potential health hazard. This work addresses the concentrations and bioaccessibility of nine PTEs (As, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, V, and Zn) in thirty eight agricultural land and playground soils collected from a semi-arid urban area of Baghdad-Iraq. Two surrogate biological fluids (SBFs), macrophage vacuole (MS) and gastric (GS) solutions, were used to extract the metals to simulate the biological availability of the PTEs via inhalation and ingestion exposure routes.