Application of an in vitro digestion model for ²¹⁰Po bioaccessibility assessment in seafood

This study aims to investigate the bioaccessibility of ²¹⁰Po in seafood and the impact of food preparation on this radionuclide. Polonium bioaccessibility is the fraction of ²¹⁰Po mobilised from food matrices into digestive extractants when applying an in vitro digestion model. The degree of bioaccessibility of ²¹⁰Po in food has important implications for estimating ingestion doses from this radionuclide. The simulation of gastrointestinal digestion was divided into three stages through the use of synthetic saliva, gastric and bile-pancreas solutions. Following pre-treatment with a saliva solution, raw and cooked seafood samples underwent one of the following treatments: (a) simulated gastric digestion only or (b) simulated complete gastrointestinal digestion (gastric digestion followed by bile-pancreas digestion). No significant difference (P > 0.05) in ²¹⁰Po mobility was found between samples that underwent gastric digestion compared to those that only underwent gastro-intestinal digestion. However, a significant difference (P < 0.05) in ²¹⁰Po bioaccessibility was found between raw and cooked seafood undergoing both gastric and gastro-intestinal digestion.