Organohalogens: A persisting burden in Slovenia?

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) represent a concern for the environment and human health due to their persistence and toxicity. Exposure in Slovenia is geographically differentiated because the country, as part of former Yugoslavia, has a history of industry and regional contamination and is - at the same time - known for its clean nature. The PCB pollution of the Krupa River drew the public's attention to the chemical burden of Slovenians, and the demand for studies has been rising since. We assessed the exposure of men (n = 548) and primiparous women (n = 536) to POPs in 12 regions of Slovenia as well as exposure pathways via questionnaires. Most PCDD/Fs, PCBs, and PBDEs could be determined in pooled samples of maternal milk at low concentrations (1.57 pg/gTEQ, 1.47 pg/gTEQ, and 1076 pg/g fat, respectively), but a much lower number of compounds could be measured above the LOQ in pooled men's plasma samples (PCDD/Fs 0.08 pg/gTEQ, PCBs 0.007 pg/gTEQ, ΣPBDE 920 pg/g), and only HCB, p,p'-DDE, ΣDDT, and the non-dioxin-like PCB congeners 138, 153, and 180 could be determined in individual samples of milk (concentration range 5-60 ng/g fat). In individual samples of men's serum, only p,p'-DDE and ΣPCB were detected at concentrations of 0.25 ng/g and 0.3 ng/g, respectively. Nonetheless, we were able to differentiate between polluted and unpolluted areas on a national level, with higher exposure levels in the PCB polluted region of Bela Krajina, the industrial region Zasavje, and the capital, Ljubljana. Despite low concentrations, determinants of exposure, such as age, proximity to roads, old building materials, private water supplies, and consumption of alcohol, fish, meat, and eggs that have previously been observed only at higher levels could still be identified. Furthermore, levels of PCBs and PBDEs were highly correlated suggesting common exposure sources and pathways, whereas PCDD/Fs were correlated to a lesser extent. The calculated ratio between DDT and DDE in maternal milk samples was decreasing with the year of sampling, suggesting no ongoing exposure to DDT. The study findings suggest low exposure of men and lactating women to legacy pollutants in Slovenia, which gave rise to the hypothesis that Slovenia's geographical location might provide shelter from the long-range transport of POPs via Westerly winds. This hypothesis remains to be confirmed within future studies.

Multivariate data analysis of erythrocyte membrane phospholipid Fatty Acid profiles in the discrimination between normal blood tissue and various disease States.

The investigation presented here aims to compare the fatty acid composition of red blood cells of patients with different disease states and to test the hypothesis that the changes in fatty acid profiles derived from erythrocyte phospholipids might be relevant to various diseases. The study sample consisted of 342 blood donors, among them 135 with inflammatory bowel disease, 53 with uterine leiomyoma, 14 with verified absence of uterine leiomyoma, 52 with asthma, 18 with colon adenomas, and 70 blood samples without any of mentioned diseases that was used as a control group. After the isolation of erythrocytes from blood samples, total extracted lipids were separated by solid-phase extraction (SPE) into non polar lipids and polar phospholipids. After the saponification of phospholipid fraction, the esterification process followed with boron trifluoride-methanol reagent. The fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) composition of the total red blood cell phospholipid fraction was analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) with flame ionization detector (FID). Additionally two fatty aldehyde dimethyl acetals (hexadecanal and octadecanal dimethyl acetals; 16:0 DMA and 18:0 DMA) derived from erythrocyte membrane plasmalogen phospholipids were also determined. The resulting fatty acid and plasmalogen linked fatty acid composition was evaluated by the principal component analysis (PCA). We demonstrated decreased levels of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs) in red blood cell membrane of patients with colon adenomas. Also, a large negative correlation was observed among all samples between the quantity of saturated acids and arachidonic (20:4n6) acid as well as saturated acids and adrenic (22:4n6) acid. In PCA score plot a group of female donors is distinguished mainly by the content of linoleic (18:2n6) acid; a small subgroup shows its concentration highly above the average value. At the same time, the same subgroup has both dimethyl acetals below the average concentrations. The study demonstrates feasibility of multivariate data analysis in discrimination of patients with different diseases according to fatty acid profile and suggests considerable differences in membrane fatty acid profiles in patients with various disease states.