Patient fat biopsies for chemical analysis and liver biopsies for ultrastructural characterization after exposure to polychlorinated dioxins, furans and PCBs.

Abstract

A subset of workers was followed after exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins, and furans in an occupational medicine clinic setting. Patterns of PCBs found in adipose tissue resembled the pattern seen when soot from the incident or Aroclor 1254 was examined by GC-MS. Adipose tissue also revealed levels of hepta- and octachlorinated furans and dioxins as high as 8400 ppt in one repeatedly exposed worker. Control fat from patients with no known exposure to furans or dioxins was usually in the several hundred parts per trillion range for these isomers, but slightly over 2000 ppt in one sample. Electron microscopic analysis of liver biopsies from three patients who developed mild elevations of hepatic enzymes in their serum revealed morphologic alterations in some ways similar to those seen in animals after feeding experiments with PCBs, dioxins or the Binghamton State Office Building soot. These include pleomorphic mitochondria, giant mitochondria, prominent dense mitochondrial granules, cristae parallel to the long axis of the mitochondria and crystalline structure within same mitochondria as well as lipid droplets in liver cells and slightly dilated smooth endoplasmic reticulum.ImagesFIGURE 1.FIGURE 2.FIGURE 3.FIGURE 4.FIGURE 5.FIGURE 6.FIGURE 7.FIGURE 9.FIGURE 10.FIGURE 11.

Sources and fate of polychlorinated dibenzodioxins, dibenzofurans and related compounds in human environments.

“…All chemical analyses were accomplished by the Brehm Laboratory, while Dr. Schecter was responsible for medical surveillance and testing of these subjects. The latter results are described elsewhere in this volume (23). It is hoped that it will be possible to correlate observations of PCDDs/PCDFs in the human tissue samples with the levels of exposure and with symptoms of adverse health effects reported by the victims and confirmed by medical tests and microscopic examination of tissues.…”

“…It is hoped that it will be possible to correlate observations of PCDDs/PCDFs in the human tissue samples with the levels of exposure and with symptoms of adverse health effects reported by the victims and confirmed by medical tests and microscopic examination of tissues. These studies are still in a preliminary stage, however, and it is premature to draw conclusions at this point (23).…”

Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) Inhibit Hepcidin Expression through an Estrogen-Like Effect Associated with Disordered Systemic Iron Homeostasis

“…PCBs, a large family of persistent organic pollutants, 58 can accumulate readily in fat-rich tissues, such as adipose, breast, and liver, 59 and the level of PCBs detected in fat-rich tissues is likely 30−500-fold higher than that detected in blood. 42 The liver plays a prominent role in regulating systemic iron homeostasis, as liver-secreted hepcidin fundamentally governs dietary iron absorption and iron egress from macrophages.…”

A selective historical review of congener-specific human tissue measurements as sensitive and specific biomarkers of exposure to dioxins and related compounds.

“…Findings of elevated chlorinated dioxin and dibenzofuran congeners in the blood and adipose tissue was reported for the first time in 1983 in exposed American workers. Also noted for the first time was the presence of dioxin and dibenzofuran congeners in the Environmental Health Perspectives * Vol 106, Supplement 2 * April 1998 e fat and blood of U.S. adults from the general population, which served as the comparison group (31,33). The work was repeated and extended shortly thereafter with improved specificity and sensitivity of congener detection (34).…”