Serum PCB levels in a representative sample of the Spanish adult population: the BIOAMBIENT.ES project.

This manuscript presents the levels of six indicator polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners (IUPAC nos. 28, 52, 101, 138, 153 and 180) in the serum of 1880 individuals from a representative sample of the Spanish working population recruited between March 2009 and July 2010. Three out of the six PCBs studied (180, 153 and 138) were quantified in more than 99% of participants. PCB 180 was the highest contributor, followed by PCBs 153 and 138, with relative abundances of 42.6%, 33.2% and 24.2%, respectively. In contrast, PCBs 28 and 52 were detected in only 1% of samples, whereas PCB 101 was detectable in 6% of samples. The geometric mean (GM) for ΣPCBs138/153/180 was 135.4 ng/g lipid (95% CI: 121.3-151.2 ng/g lipid) and the 95th percentile was 482.2 ng/g lipid. Men had higher PCB blood concentrations than women (GMs 138.9 and 129.9 ng/g lipid respectively). As expected, serum PCB levels increased with age and frequency of fish consumption, particularly in those participants younger than 30 years of age. The highest levels we found were for participants from the Basque Country, whereas the lowest concentrations were found for those from the Canary Islands. The Spanish population studied herein had similar levels to those found previously in Greece and southern Italy, lower levels than those in France and central Europe, and higher PCB levels than those in the USA, Canada and New Zealand. This paper provides the first baseline information regarding PCB exposure in the Spanish adult population on a national scale. The results will allow us to establish reference levels, follow temporal trends and identify high-exposure groups, as well as monitor implementation of the Stockholm Convention in Spain.

Determination of dexamethasone in feed by TLC and HPLC.

Two detection methods are described for the determination of dexamethasone in feed, which may be used as screening and confirmatory methods. The procedures were developed after studying different extraction and clean-up procedures: feed extraction was optimized using methylene chloride and hexane followed by a tandem solid-phase clean-up step with silica and C18 cartridges. The confirmatory method presented is based on normal-phase high-performance liquid chromatography on a Diol 5 microns column, with hexane-propan-2-ol (90:10 v/v) as mobile phase, followed by diode array detection and confirmation. All parameters are discussed, especially the extraction and clean-up steps. Recovery studies after application of the proposed method to different kinds of feed samples spiked with dexamethasone at levels between 120 and 1600 ng g-1 yielded a mean value of 55.4% with an overall standard deviation of 15.6%. The proposed procedure allows the determination of dexamethasone in feed at levels lower than 50 ng g-1.