Chapter 24
A Pilot Biological Environmental Specimen Bank in China
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P. Q. Zhang, C. F. Chai, X. L. Lu, Q. F. Qian, and W. Y. Feng Institute of High Energy Physics, Academia Sinica, P.O. Box 2732, 100080 Beijing, China
A pilot Chinese Biological Environmental Bank (CBESB) has been in operation in the Laboratory of Nuclear Analysis Techniques, Academia Sinica, since 1994. The main purpose of CBESB is to collect and store specimensfromthe natural environment systems for real-time analysis and retrospective studies. The general guideline of CBESB was clearly defined. The main facilities available in CBESB laboratory are introduced, the target districts and types for the collection offirstset of specimens are listed, some of the operating protocols and preliminary running practise on CBESB are briefly described and the future plans are mentioned in the present paper.
Biological environmental specimen banks (BESBs) have been established in more and more countries all over the world since the middle of 1970's, and are also emerging in developing countries in recent years. As its great significance is environmental monitoring and pollution control, scientists and governmental authorities are paying much attention to BESB activities. The Chinese economy is developing at rapid pace due to the implementation of reform and open policies. Many new economic zones, collective and private enterprises have begun to flourish. At the same time various environmental pollution problems are becoming increasingly serious. The Chinese government realizes the situation and does make a lot of efforts to protect ecosystems in which human beings live. It is obvious that the establishment of BESB in China is not only necessary, but also a pressing matter at the moment PURPOSE AND GENERAL GUIDELINE The establishment of thefirstpilot Chinese Biological Environmental Specimen Bank (CBESB) has been funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and also supported by the Laboratory of Nuclear Analysis Techniques (LNAT), since 1994. It is housed in LNAT in the Institute of High Energy Physics, Academia Sinica.
© 1997 American Chemical Society
In Environmental Biomonitoring; Subramanian, K., et al.; ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1997.
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The major objectives in establishing CBESB are : 1) Providing historical specimens and baseline levels for future environmental studies;. 2) Functioning as a component part of the currently envisaged environmental monitoring programmes; 3) Providing reliable recordings and methods for the long-term trend monitoring of environmental situation; 4) Performing retrospective replicate analysis of well-preserved samples for the determination of inorganic and organic constituents already examined when new environmental problems, new environmental contaminants or new (or modified) analytical methods emerge. 5) Providing reference materials for promoting the development of new analytical methods or the improvement of existing methods. We envision CBESB to be harmonized with the international and domestic environmental monitoring programmes such that its operation will be along the guidelines of international standard operating proceduresfromdie outset The bank capacity will be extended gradually. CBESB LABORATORY FACILITIES 2
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A special laboratory (about 40 m ) with a class 100 clean room (about 10 m ) as the main part has been built for sample processing and storing. It is equipped with some necessary facilities including a micro-dismemhrator for sample homogenizing, an ultralow temperature (-85°C) compressorfreezerand two liquid nitrogenfreezersfor sample storage. Freeze-dryer, low-temperature asher etc. are also available in our laboratory. Besides, some important nuclear analysis facilities including γ-ray spectrometers with HPGe detectors for neutron activation analysis (NAAX proton induced X-ray emission (PDŒ) equipment combined with a van de graaf accelerator, total-reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF) spectrometer and synchrotron radiation x-ray fluorescence (SRXRF) spectrometer are also available in our institute. Recently some facilities for chemical speciation studies such as high speed centrifuger, ultraviolet spectrophotometer, gelfiltrationand permeation chromatographer have also been installed in our laboratory. SELECTION OF DISTRICTS AND TYPES FOR SPECIMEN COLLECTON The target districts for the collection of specimens were selected and shown in fig. • Coastal developing economic zones such as the Great Bohai Sea area (1), Pudong and Yangtze River Delta (2); • Important bays and estuaries such as Jiaozhou Bay (3); • High incidence areas of endemic disease such as Goitre, Cretinism, Arsenism (4) ; • Energy source basefieldssuch as the North China Oil Field (5)and the Three Valleys area in the Yangtze River (6); • Serious environmental pollution areas such as acid rain polluted districts in South China (7) and mercury polluted area in the Second Song-Hua-Jiang district (8); • Unique Chinese environment, e.g. Shanxi loess area (9); and • Metropolitan cities, such as Beijing (10) and Tianjtng (11).
In Environmental Biomonitoring; Subramanian, K., et al.; ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1997.
Downloaded by UNIV MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST on October 1, 2012 | http://pubs.acs.org Publication Date: May 5, 1997 | doi: 10.1021/bk-1997-0654.ch024
24.
ZHANG ET AL.
Pilot Biological Environmental Specimen Bank in China 2
Fig. Sampling areas for CBESB. Dots and number refer to sampling areas mentioned in text. (O) areas already studied; () proposed areas. The species we selected for the first set of specimens collected were: Human liversfromthe big cities, human scalp hairfromthe high incidence endemic disease areas, mussels from some typical bays and estuaries, lichensfromsome new developing economic zones, forest plantsfromsome acid rain polluted areas, Chinese loess and so on. SPECIMEN BANKING ACTIVITIES (1) Specimen collections • Eight human Hver samplesfromnormal people (violent death) living in the Tianjing area were collected for the long-term trend evaluation of environmental quality in that area. The human liver samples about 300g each, were collected within 48 hours of death and processed under the guidelines of international standard operating procedures (I) to rninimize contamination of the sample and /or loss of constituents and immediate!} transported to the laboratory with ice box and then stored at -40°C in a compressor freezer. Detailed information about the donor and specimen were also obtained. • Thirty three human scalp hair samplesfromnormal males in the 20-40 age range in the Beijing area were collected for the trend monitoring of environment in this area. Only occipital hair less than 4 cm longfromscalp were cut using stainless steel scissors for elemental analysis and storage. In Environmental Biomonitoring; Subramanian, K., et al.; ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1997.
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• One hundred and thirty scalp hair samplesfromjuveniles in some villages in Inner Mongolia, where endemic arsenism disease is prevalent Higher arsenic content ( 0.120.95 mg/1 ) than normal (
