Concentration of organochlorine pesticides in wine corks.

Wine corks were extracted and analyzed for 23 organochlorine pesticides, including alpha-, beta-, and gamma-hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCH), hexachlorobenzene, DDT, DDE and DDD, chlordane, endosulfan, dieldrin, aldrin, and endrin. This was done to investigate the occurrence, concentrations, composition profiles, and possible sources of organochlorine contamination. All groups of compounds were detected in every sample investigated, with the exception of aldrin and endrin. The total concentrations of organochlorine compounds in all samples ranged from 75-120 ng/g lipid, and for most compounds, the concentrations of organochlorines in cork were consistent with published data for other plant tissues. Differences in the relative abundances of the various classes of organochlorine pesticides were substantial and were probably due to differences in the pesticide usage practices of the various regions in which the cork producing trees were grown.

Environmentally relevant xenoestrogen tissue concentrations correlated to biological responses in mice.

The effects of xenoestrogens have been extensively studied in rodents, generally under single, high-dose conditions. Using a continuous-release, low-dose system in ovariectomized mice, we correlated the estrogenic end points of uterine epithelial height (UEH) and vaginal epithelial thickness (VET) with concentrations of two organochlorine pesticide isomers in fat and blood. Silastic capsules containing a range of doses of either ss-hexachlorocyclohexane (ss-HCH) or o, p'-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (o,p'-DDT) were implanted subcutaneously, and animals were killed after 1 week. Average blood levels achieved by the various doses were 4.2-620 ng/mL for o,p'-DDT and 5.0-300 ng/mL for ss-HCH. Fat concentrations of o,p'-DDT and ss-HCH correlated linearly to blood levels (o,p'-DDT, r(2) = 0.94; ss-HCH, r(2) = 0.83). Fat concentrations (nanograms per gram of tissue) were higher than blood concentrations (nanograms per milliliter) by 90 +/- 5- and 120 +/- 9-fold (mean +/- SE) for o, p'-DDT and ss-HCH, respectively. The VET ranged from 12 +/- 0.9 microm in controls to 114 +/- 8 microm in treated animals, and was correlated to blood levels of either treatment compound. The UEH ranged from an average of 7.7 +/- 0.3 microm in controls to 26 +/- 2 microm in high-dose o,p'-DDT-treated animals. The UEH was also correlated with ss-HCH concentration, but it plateaued at approximately 11 microm at the highest doses. The lowest blood concentrations that produced statistically significant increases in VET or UEH were 18 +/- 2 ng/mL o,p'-DDT and 42 +/- 4 ng/mL ss-HCH. These values are within the same order of magnitude of blood concentrations found in some human subjects from the general population, suggesting that human blood concentrations of these organochlorines may reach estrogenic levels.

Mutation of human cells by kerosene soot.

The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon fraction of a kerosene soot induced forward mutation in human diploid lymphoblasts when coincubated with Sprague-Dawley rat liver postmitochondrial supernatant. Two components of the kerosene soot extract, benzo[a]pyrene (BP) and cyclopenta[cd]pyrene (CP), were also tested. TP was not mutagenic at the concentration found in the soot extract, although it was active at higher concentrations. The amount of CP present could account for approximately 8% of the total mutation observed with the soot. The results were compared to data obtained previously in a similar mutation assay in Salmonella typhimurium. The protocol described permits the facile assay of mutation at the hgprt locus in human lymphoblasts; such mutation is induced by compounds of complex mixtures requiring mixed-function oxygenase activity for metabolism to genetically active derivatives.

Source identification of urban airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by gas chromatographic mass spectrometry and high resolution mass spectrometry.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons formed during the combustion of three common fuels (coal, wood and kerosene) were separated and identified by capillary-column gas chromatographic mass spectrometry and were compared to airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from Indianapolis, a high coal consuming area, and Boston, a low coal consuming area. High resolution mass spectral data were utilized in the construction of alkyl homolog plots for the comparison of alkyl distribution within each sample.

The analysis of organic water pollutants by gas chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Four methods for the analysis of trace levels or organic compounds in water have been discussed: direct aqueous injection, vapor stripping, solvent extraction, and lipophilic adsorption. Table 6 presents a comparison of these techniques. Direct injection is applicable to compounds having a wide range of polarities and volatilities, but it is not a very sensitive technique. For applications in which low sensitivity is acceptable, direct injection offers a very rapid and potentially accurate means of measuring organics in water. Vapor stripping is a factor of 10(6) more sensitive than direct injection, but this is achieved at the expense of simplicity. This method is applicable to compounds of volatilities less than that of eicosane. A subtle operational problem with most vapor stripping techniques is that the contents of the trap are consumed with one analysis; if anything goes awry, the analysis of that trapped sample cannot be repeated. Solvent extraction has a respectable sensitivity (about 0.5 ppb) and operationally it is very simple. Furthermore, aliquots of the resulting extract can be analyzed many times with different techniques if necessary. Because of the evaporation step, very volatile compounds (greater than that of decane) cannot be measured effectively with solvent extraction. The introduction of a solvent into the water carries with it the potential for contamination. Thus, ultrapure solvents must be used and all glassware should be carefully cleaned [96]. Lipophilic adsorption has the unique property of sampling many hundreds of liters of water. Thus, the method is quite sensitive (potentially in the ppt range) and, in addition, it can provide several milligrams of an isolated component. This latter feature is of considerable advantage if one wants to complement GC-MS analyses with infrared or NMR for difficult structural identifications. As a solvent extraction, the evaporation of the final solvent limits the applicability of adsorption methods to compounds with volatilities greater than that of decane. Finally, the importance of avoiding contamination should be emphasized. Many of the compounds encountered in environmental samples are also common laboratory artifacts, for example plasticizers and antioxidants. When one finds such compounds in a water sample, it is absolutely essential to demonstrate that they are indeed present in the water and are not the result of laboratory contamination. The best such demonstration is procedural blank analyses that are indeed blank.