Host and environmental determinants of polychlorinated aromatic hydrocarbons in serum of adolescents.

Abstract

This study investigated host factors and environmental factors as potential determinants of polychlorinated aromatic hydrocarbons (PCAHs) in serum of adolescents. We recruited 200 participants (80 boys and 120 girls), with a mean age of 17.4 years (SD, 0.8), in Belgium from a rural control area (Peer) and from two polluted suburbs of Antwerp where a nonferrous smelter (Hoboken) and waste incinerators (Wilrijk) are located. We quantified polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs; congeners 138, 153, and 180) in serum by gas chromatography and obtained the toxic equivalents (TEQs) of PCAHs in serum with the chemically activated luciferase gene expression bioassay (CALUX). Serum PCB concentration was higher in boys than in girls (1.67 vs. 1.02 nmol/L or 377 vs. 210 pmol/g serum lipids; p< 0.001). In the whole adolescent group, multiple regression showed that serum PCB concentration decreased 0.06 nmol/L per 1% increase in body fat content (p< 0.001) and increased 0.39 nmol/L and 0.14 nmol/L per 1 mmol/L increase in serum concentrations of triglycerides (p < 0.001) and cholesterol (p = 0.002), respectively. Host factors explained 44% of the serum PCB variance. In the same model, serum PCB concentration increased 0.14 nmol/L with 10 weeks of breast-feeding (p< 0.001) and 0.06 nmol/L with intake of 10 g animal fat per day (p < 0.001), and was associated with residence in the waste incinerator area (9% higher; p = 0.04); 11% of the variance could be explained by these environmental factors. The geometric mean of the serum TEQ value was similar in boys and girls (0.15 TEQ ng/L or 33.0 pg/g serum lipids). In multiple regression, TEQ in serum decreased 0.03 ng/L per centimeter increase in triceps skinfold (p = 0.006) and was 29% higher in subjects living close to the nonferrous smelter (p < 0.001). This study showed that in 16- to 18-year-old teenagers host factors are important determinants of serum concentrations of PCAHs, whereas environmentally related determinants may to some extent contribute independently to human exposure to these persistent chemicals in the environment.

Internal exposure to pollutants and body size in Flemish adolescents and adults: Associations and dose–response relationships

“…That different mechanism predominate in adults compared to adolescents seems likely The quite strong negative associations in adolescents between organochlorines and BMI observed previously by Nawrot et al (2002) and, for organochlorines other than PCB118, also in this study, are contrasting with the positive associations with BMI found for HCB, PCB 118 and p,p'-DDE in both adult men and women and, for men, also for dioxin-like activity. The negative associations observed in adolescents can probably be explained partly by a transient dilution effect in adipose tissue during growth as proposed by Nawrot et al (2002). However, a dilution effect cannot explain the positive associations observed in adolescents between PCB118 and BMI after adjustment for other exposures, nor why the association between BMI and organochlorine pollutants was in all cases stronger at exposures below the median than at exposures above the median.…”

Dioxin-like activity in the blood of Greenlandic Inuit and Danish women: a pilot study

“…The AhR-chemical-activatedluciferase-expression (AhR-CALUX) bioassay can measure the activity of pure compounds (21,23) as well as the integrated activity of total DLCs, and thus the net AhR-TEQ of complex mixtures as found in bovine and human milk (24,25), and human serum and follicular fluid (17,(26)(27)(28)(29).…”

Improving Organochlorine Biomarker Models for Cancer Research

“…In the body, organochlorine compounds reside mainly in adipose (80%), with rapid, passive distribution to blood and other tissues proportional to their neutral lipid content. Yet, body mass index (BMI; weight in kg divided by height in meters squared), a surrogate for adiposity, exhibits both positive and negative correlations with organochlorine compound levels in cross-sectional studies (6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19). On the other hand, reported relationships between BMI and elimination rate (expressed as rate constants or half-life) are consistently positive, such that a higher BMI results in a longer half-life (13,15,(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27).…”