Polychlorinated Biphenyl Concentrations and Estimated Intakes in Fish Oil Supplements on the Japanese Market.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are synthetic organic contaminants that are widespread in the environment. There are 209 PCB congeners. Fish oil produced from marine fish is widely used as a health supplement. PCB contamination of fish oil is of concern. We determined the concentrations of all 209 PCB congeners in commercially available fish oil supplements from Japan and estimated PCB intakes for humans consuming the supplements. We determined the concentrations of non-dioxin-like PCBs separately. The total PCB concentrations in 37 fish oil supplements purchased in Japan were 0.024-19 ng/g whole weight, and the non-dioxin-like PCB concentration range was also 0.024-19 ng/g whole weight. The total PCB intakes calculated for a 50 kg human consuming the supplements were 0.039-51 ng/day (0.00078-1.0 ng/(kg body weight per day)) and the non-dioxin-like PCB intake range was also 0.039-51 ng/day (0.00078-1.0 ng/(kg body weight per day)). The total PCB intakes were much lower than the tolerable daily intake of 20 ng/(kg body weight per day) recommended by the WHO. The results indicated that PCBs in the fish oil supplements pose acceptable risks to humans consuming the fish oil supplements daily.

Sex-related differences in the associations between maternal dioxin-like compounds and reproductive and steroid hormones in cord blood: The Hokkaido study.

BACKGROUND: Prenatal exposure to dioxin-like compounds (DLCs) irreversibly affects fetal reproductive and steroid hormone synthesis. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess the relationships between maternal DLCs and cord blood reproductive and steroid hormones. METHODS: Participants in this study were pregnant women who enrolled in the Sapporo Cohort of the Hokkaido Study between 2002 and 2005. We quantified 29 DLCs during the 2nd and 3rd trimesters in maternal blood. Additionally, we measured the concentrations of progesterone, estradiol (E2), testosterone (T), androstenedione, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), cortisol, cortisone, sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), prolactin, inhibin B, and insulin-like factor-3 (INSL3) in cord blood samples. RESULTS: Data from 183 mother-child pairs were analyzed. We observed sex-dependent associations of DLCs on T/E2 ratios, DHEA, cortisol, cortisone, adrenal androgen/glucocorticoid (AA/GC: sum of DHEA and androstenedione)/(sum of cortisol and cortisone) ratios and SHBG. An increase in maternal DLCs related to decreased T/E2 ratios and SHBG and inhibin B levels, and increased AA/GC ratios and FSH and DHEA levels in male cord blood samples. However, an increase in maternal mono-ortho polychlorinated biphenyls related to increased cortisol, cortisone, and SHBG levels, and decreased DHEA levels and AA/GC ratios in female cord blood samples. CONCLUSIONS: Prenatal exposure to DLCs alters steroidogenesis and suppresses the secretion of inhibin B in male cord blood. Relationships between maternal DLCs and cord blood hormones differ between boys and girls. Further studies are required to clarify whether the effects of in utero exposure to DLCs on adrenal hormones extend into infancy and puberty.

Compound-specific isotopic and congener-specific analyses of polychlorinated biphenyl in the heat medium and rice oil of the Yusho incident.

Compound-specific isotope analysis (CSIA) can be used to examine the source and transformation processes of organic pollutants in the environment. We performed a carbon stable isotope analysis of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners in the PCB heat-transfer medium (heat medium) and the original Kanechlor-400 (KC-400, a commercial brand of PCBs) involved in the Yusho incident. The main purpose is to investigate whether isotope fractionation occurred in the rice oil deodorization process that caused the incident. The carbon isotope ratios (δ13C values) of the targeted PCB congeners ranged from - 29.39 to - 27.00‰ in the heat medium and from - 28.77 to - 27.05‰ in the original KC-400. No significant differences were found in the δ13C values, suggesting carbon isotope fractionation did not occur for the targeted PCB congeners in the heat medium when deodorization of rice oil occurred at temperatures above 200 °C. Furthermore, we also conducted a congener-specific analysis of 64 PCB congeners found in the heat medium and rice oil contaminated by it. The total PCB congener concentrations were 503 mg/g in the heat medium and 81 µg/g in the rice oil. The concentrations of the highly chlorinated congeners were significantly lower in the heat medium than in the original KC-400, and the compositional ratios of the lowly chlorinated congeners were relatively lower in the rice oil than in the heat medium. These results suggest that the PCB congener patterns gradually changed from that of the original KC-400 in the deodorization process and subsequent contamination into the rice oil. Thus, a combination of CSIA and congener-specific analysis is a new approach for investigating the changing PCB congener profiles in samples from the Yusho incident.

[The rapid analysis of polychlorinated quaterphenyls in blood using different diameter capillary column with the high-resolution gas chromatograph high-resolution mass spectrometer].

The polychlorinated quaterphenyl (PCQ) concentrations in blood are important discriminative parameters in yusho patient. In this study, a rapid analytical method for PCQ using different diameter capillary column (rapid-Rtx65TG) with high-resolution gas chromatograph high-resolution mass spectrometer (HRGC/HRMS) instead of the gas chromatograph electron capture detector (ECD/GC) was developed. Using different diameter capillary columns, the analysis time of the HRGC/HRMS was drastically shortened, and the detection sensitivity was improved. In the rapid-Rtx65TG column, a small-bore capillary column (length 1m, I.D. 0.1mm) was connected with the inlet side of the GC, and behind that column, a large-bore capillary column (length 15mm, I.D. 0.53mm) for octadecachloroquaterphenyl (ODCQ) analysis was connected. In the HRGC/HRMS measurement of ODCQ by the rapid-Rtx65TG column, the minimum limit of detection for the apparatus was 0.4 pg, and the minimum limit of determination for the blood was 0.008 ppb. On ECD/GC in the conventional method and HRGC/HRMS in this study, the PCQ concentration in blood including yusho patients and yusho suspected persons was almost equivalent.

[Congener specific determination of PCBs in human blood using gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and high resolution gas chromatography/high resolution mass spectrometry (HRGC/HRMS)].

We studied the progressive analytical method for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in blood samples collected from Yusho patients. This study established a systematic procedure for determining both "total concentration of PCBs and their profiles" and "concentrations of mono-ortho PCBs as dioxin-like compounds", providing a significant index for diagnosis. The method we developed consists of a rapid clean-up using gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and sensitive identification with high resolution gas chromatography/high resolution mass spectrometry (HRGC/HRMS). This method provides identification of all of PCB congeners typically detected in human blood samples, especially it is worth noting that nine significant congeners on Yusho diagnosis (IUPAC #105, #114, #118, #123, #153, #156, #157, #167, #189) were detected from a five-gram blood sample. Using the present method, we analyzed sixty-six individual blood samples collected during the annual Yusho inspection in the 2004, and could identified sixty-eight PCB isomers in all samples. As a result, ten patients were classified into pattern A, the typical Yusho pattern. The mean total PCB concentration of pattern A subjects was 2.95 ppb, while that of control subjects was 0.77 ppb, at whole blood basis respectively.