| 1. |
- Jakobsson, Kristina, et al.
(författare)
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Polybrominated diphenyl ethers in maternal serum, umbilical cord serum, colostrum and mature breast milk : Insights from a pilot study and the literature
- 2012
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Ingår i: Environment International. - : Elsevier BV. - 0160-4120 .- 1873-6750. ; 47, s. 121-130
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Human serum and mother's milk are frequently used to assess exposure to polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), including transplacental transfer to the foetus. However, little is known about the kinetics of PBDEs, especially the highly brominated BDE congeners.In this pilot study, maternal serum samples were collected from 10 women at delivery and five to six weeks post partum. Umbilical serum was also obtained. Milk was donated two to five days, and five to six weeks after delivery. The amount of PBDEs in these samples was determined using liquid–liquid extraction and GC/MS.Low, moderately and highly brominated diphenyl ethers were present in umbilical cord serum, indicating placental transfer. The lipid-adjusted levels of BDE-47, BDE-207 and BDE-209 were similar in maternal and umbilical cord serum, whereas the cord serum levels for the penta- to octa-BDEs quantified were lower than in maternal serum.Marked changes were seen in the congener pattern in breast milk during the first month of lactation, whereas maternal serum levels did not change significantly. The general pattern was an enrichment of low to moderately brominated congeners (i.e. from BDE-17 to BDE-154, with the exception of BDE-28) in colostrum compared with maternal serum. In contrast, more highly brominated congeners were found at similar, or lower levels in colostrum than in maternal serum. After the transition from colostrum to mature milk, the levels of BDE-153 and BDE-209 were substantially reduced, and BDE‐209 was below the limit of detection in 6 out of 9 samples.A literature review on the design and reporting of studies on the transfer of PBDEs from mother to infant revealed a lack of transparency in many cases. The use of the recently published STROBE-ME guidelines is therefore recommended.
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| 2. |
- Yin, Ge, 1987-
(författare)
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Organohalogen contaminants in wildlife from the Yangtze River Delta : Development of methods and assessments of legacy and emerging persistent organic pollutants
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Rapid economic development has occurred during the past few decades in China with the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) area as one of the most progressive areas. The urbanization, industrialization, agricultural and aquaculture activities result in extensive production and application of chemicals. Organohalogen contaminants (OHCs) have been widely used as i.e. pesticides, flame retardants and plasticizers. They are persistent, bioaccumulative and pose a potential threat to ecosystem and human health. However, limited research has been conducted in the YRD with respect to chemicals environmental exposure.The main objective of this thesis is to investigate the contamination level, distribution pattern and sources of OHCs in the YRD. Wildlife from different habitats are used to indicate the environmental pollution situation, and evaluate selected matrices for use in long term biomonitoring to determine the environmental stress the contamination may cause. In addition, a method is developed for dicofol analysis. Moreover, a specific effort is made to introduce statistic power analysis to assist in optimal sampling design.The thesis results show extensive contamination of OHCs in wildlife in the YRD. The occurrences of high concentrations of chlorinated paraffins (CPs) are reported in wildlife, in particular in terrestrial species, (i.e. short-tailed mamushi snake and peregrine falcon). Impurities and byproducts of pentachlorophenol products, i.e. polychlorinated diphenyl ethers (PCDEs) and hydroxylated polychlorinated diphenyl ethers (OH-PCDEs) are identified and reported for the first time in eggs from black-crowned night heron and whiskered tern. High concentrations of octachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (OCDD) are determined in these samples. The toxic equivalents (TEQs) of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) are at mean levels of 300 and 520 pg TEQ g-1lw (WHO2005 TEQ) in eggs from the two bird species, respectively. This is two orders of magnitude higher than European Union (EU) regulation limit in chicken eggs. Also, a novel pattern of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) with octa- to decaCBs, contributing to as much as 20% of total PCBs therein, are reported in birds. The legacy POPs shows a common characteristic with relatively high level of organochlorine pesticides (i.e. DDT, hexacyclohexanes (HCHs) and Mirex), indicating historic applications. In contrast, rather low concentrations are shown of industrial chemicals such as PCBs and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs).A refined and improved analytical method is developed to separate dicofol from its major decomposition compound, 4,4’-dichlorobenzophenone. Hence dicofol is possible to assess as such. Statistic power analysis demonstrates that sampling of sedentary species should be consistently spread over a larger area to monitor temporal trends of contaminants in a robust manner.The results presented in this thesis show high CPs and OCDD concentrations in wildlife. The levels and patterns of OHCs in YRD differ from other well studied areas of the world. This is likely due to the extensive production and use of chemicals in the YRD. The results strongly signal the need of research biomonitoring programs that meet the current situation of the YRD. Such programs will contribute to the management of chemicals and environment in YRD, with the potential to grow into the human health sector, and to expand to China as a whole.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Bergman, Åke, et al.
(författare)
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A novel abbreviation standard for organobromine, organochlorine and organophosphorus flame retardants and some characteristics of the chemicals
- 2012
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Ingår i: Environment International. - : Elsevier BV. - 0160-4120 .- 1873-6750. ; 49, s. 57-82
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ever since the interest in organic environmental contaminants first emerged 50 years ago, there has been a need to present discussion of such chemicals and their transformation products using simple abbreviations so as to avoid the repetitive use of long chemical names. As the number of chemicals of concern has increased, the number of abbreviations has also increased dramatically, sometimes resulting in the use of different abbreviations for the same chemical. In this article, we propose abbreviations for flame retardants (FRs) substituted with bromine or chlorine atoms or including a functional group containing phosphorus, i.e. BFRs, CFRs and PFRs, respectively. Due to the large number of halogenated and organophosphorus FRs, it has become increasingly important to develop a strategy for abbreviating the chemical names of FRs. In this paper, a two step procedure is proposed for deriving practical abbreviations (PRABs) for the chemicals discussed. In the first step, structural abbreviations (STABs) are developed using specific STAB criteria based on the FR structure. However, since several of the derived STABs are complicated and long, we propose instead the use of PRABs. These are, commonly, an extract of the most essential part of the STAB, while also considering abbreviations previously used in the literature. We indicate how these can be used to develop an abbreviation that can be generally accepted by scientists and other professionals involved in FR related work. Tables with PRABs and STABs for BFRs, CFRs and PERs are presented, including CAS (Chemical Abstract Service) numbers, notes of abbreviations that have been used previously, CA (Chemical Abstract) name, common names and trade names, as well as some fundamental physicochemical constants.
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| 5. |
- Houde, Magali, et al.
(författare)
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POLYBROMINATED DIPHENYL ETHERS AND THEIR HYDROXYLATED ANALOGS IN PLASMA OF BOTTLENOSE DOLPHINS (TURSIOPS TRUNCATUS) FROM THE UNITED STATES EAST COAST.
- 2009
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Ingår i: Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. - : Wiley. - 0730-7268 .- 1552-8618. ; 28:10, s. 2061-2068
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and hydroxylated-PBDEs (OH-PBDE) were determined in plasma of free-ranging bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) from Charleston (CHS), South Carolina, and the Indian River Lagoon (IRL), Florida, US. Significantly lower sum (Sigma) of PBDE concentrations (sum of 12 congeners) were found in animals from the IRL [arithmetic mean: 5.454.63 ng/g wet weight (ww)] compared to CHS (3040 ng/g ww). BDE-47 was the predominant PBDE in dolphins from the IRL (50% of the SigmaPBDEs) and CHS (58%). SigmaPBDE concentrations in plasma of dolphins were negatively correlated with age at both locations. Fifteen and sixteen individual OH-PBDE congeners could be quantified in plasma of dolphins from IRL and CHS, respectively. Similar to SigmaPBDE, mean SigmaOH-PBDE concentrations were significantly higher in plasma of dolphins at CHS (1150708 pg/g ww) compared to IRL (624393 pg/g ww). The predominant congener at both locations was 6-OH-PBDE 47 (IRL: 384319 pg/g ww; CHS: 541344 pg/g ww) representing 61.5% of total SigmaOH-PBDE at IRL and 47.0% at CHS. Concentrations of SigmaOH-PBDEs were weakly negatively correlated with age in dolphins from both locations (P<0.05; IRL, R2=0.048; CHS, R2=0.021). In addition to the OH-PBDE congeners identified with technical standards, eight and four unidentified OH-PBDEs were detected and quantified respectively in animals from CHS (sum of unidentified OH-PBDEs=1.350.90 pg/g ww) and IRL (0.730.40 pg/g ww). Our results suggest that, unlike OH-PCBs, OH-PBDEs in bottlenose dolphins are minor products in plasma relative to SigmaPBDEs and a significant proportion may be a consequence of the dietary uptake of naturally produced methoxylated- and OH-PBDEs.
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| 6. |
- Norrgran Engdahl, Jessica, 1979-
(författare)
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Cats as a biomarker for exposure to POPs in home environments : – with focus on brominated chemicals and associations to feline hyperthyroidism
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this thesis, body burden of brominated chemicals such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and brominated phenolic substances are explored. The external exposure of cats to these compounds from house dust and their food was also investigated. The analytical methodology used for serum extractions was validated for analysis of OH-PBDEs in cat serum.Cats are highly exposed to dust and thereby also to chemicals accumulated in dust, due to their grooming behavior. This makes pet cats, a suitable biomarker for exposure to chemicals in house dust in home environments. Thereby, cats’ exposure to dust is somewhat similar to toddlers, due their hand-to-mouth behavior. Thus, cats’ internal exposure may be used to access that of toddlers. The PBDE pattern in Swedish pet cats show exposure to Penta-, Octa- and DecaBDE and their profile matches that of dust from their homes, suggesting dust to be an important exposure source. Serum concentrations of BDE-47 in the cats were also shown to correlate with house dust from their living rooms.Feline hyperthyroidism (FH) is a common endocrine disease in elderly cats worldwide, still the actual cause(s) has not been established even though environmental pollutants such as PBDEs have been suggested. Difference in contamination load between cats with normal thyroid status and cats diagnosed with FH was performed and higher serum concentrations for some PBDEs (BDE-99, 153, -183) were found in the hyperthyroid cats.Further, the presence of the longtime discontinued flame retardant, decabromobiphenyl (BB-209) in all sampled cats indicates that it is still being circulated. A significant correlation between serum concentrations of BB-209 and matched cat food samples was found.Very few OH-PBDEs were indeed shown in cat serum and the dominating compound, 6-OH-BDE47, is believed to be of natural origin rather than being a metabolite of BDE-47. A significant correlation between serum concentration of 6-OH-BDE47 and cat food was found.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Norrgran, Jessica, et al.
(författare)
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Decabromobiphenyl, Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers, and Brominated Phenolic Compounds in Serum of Cats Diagnosed With the Endocrine Disease Feline Hyperthyroidism
- 2012
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Ingår i: Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0090-4341 .- 1432-0703. ; 63:1, s. 161-168
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The incidence of cats being diagnosed with feline hyperthyroidism (FH) has increased greatly since it was first described in 1979. The cause of FH has not been established. Hypothetically, there is a link between increasing FH and exposure to brominated flame retardants. Much greater polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) concentrations have been reported in cat serum compared with human serum, likely due to cat licking behaviour. This study aimed to extend the present identification of brominated compounds in cat serum, with a focus on hydroxylated metabolites of PBDE, to improve the understanding of feline metabolism of PBDEs. A pooled serum sample from 30 Swedish pet cats with FH was analysed, and brominated species were identified. The results showed exposure to the discontinued flame retardant decabromobiphenyl (BB-209) and technical penta- and octa-BDEs. Altogether 12 PBDE congeners were identified along with 2'-MeO-BDE68. Furthermore, 2,4-dibromophenol, 2,4,6-, 2,4,5- and 2,3,4-tribromophenol plus 2'-OH-BDE68, 6-OH-BDE47, 5-OH-BDE47, 4'-OH-BDE49 were identified. 2,4,6-tribromophenol and 6-OH-BDE47 were the most prominent species in cat serum. Considering that these are natural products, it can be concluded that metabolism of PBDEs to OH-PBDEs is not a major route of PBDE elimination in cats. It is notable that BB-209, 6-OH-BDE47, and 2,4,6-tribromophenol all suggested that endocrine-disrupting chemicals were present in high concentrations in cat serum.
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| 9. |
- Rydén, Andreas, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
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Occurrence and potential human exposure to brominated flame retardants at a Swedish smelter handling electronic scrap
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Some well-known brominated flame retardants are common in electronic and electric devices, i.e. polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), nowadays particularly the commercial DecaBDE, and tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA), but others are used as well. The PBDEs are ubiquitous environmental contaminants while the TBBPA is primarily reported as a contaminant of the abiotic compartments. In this study, personnel at a smelter handling large quantities of shredded printed circuit boards were assessed for potential elevated concentrations of PBDEs, TBBPA and other BFRs. Also dust, sampled at a few sites around the plant, was analysed for BFRs. The dominating BFRs in the dust were decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-209) and TBBPA, while intermediate levels were indicated for bis(2,4,6-tribromophenoxy)ethane (BTBPE), decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE) and hexabromobenzene (HBB) and only low concentrations of decabromobiphenyl (BB-209) and 2,4,6-tribromophenol (2,4,6-TBP). The workers all showed similar concentrations of the PBDE congeners in serum as recently determined for a Swedish control group. TBBPA was below limit of detection while 2,3,4,6-tetrabromophenol was present in all workers at rather high concentrations. It is yet not known from where this exposure originate, since the compound is not related to BFRs in the dust from the electronic scrap. It is clear that the workers are well protected from the emissions from the printed circuit boards, even though the volumes of electronic scrap handled at the smelter has increased significantly.
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| 10. |
- Sundström, Maria, 1980-
(författare)
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Radiosynthesis of Perfluoroalkyl Substances : Chemical analysis, uptake, distribution, and partitioning studies
- 2012
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are widely utilized manmade chemicals. Their properties have made them highly appreciated in a variety of industrial and consumer product applications, including fire-fighting foams, hydraulic fluids, as well as in cookware and food contact papers.However, some of the PFASs are highly persistent in the environment and their toxicological profiles are of concern. Voluntary and regulatory efforts have been taken to reduce the environmental levels of PFASs. These actions have resulted in a reduction of PFASs in human milk from Stockholm as presented in this thesis.The radiosyntheses of 35S-PFOS, 35S-PFBS, and 14C-PFOA presented herein were applied for distribution studies in mice but also for solubility and adhesion experiments of common laboratory solvents and buffers. The radiosynthesis employed reactive Grignard reagents, perfluoroalkyliodides, and 35S-sulfur dioxide or 14C-carbon dioxide. The distribution studies were performed with 35S-PFOS on both pregnant mice and their offspring as well as on male mice. The mice were subjected to whole-body autoradiography and the tissues were analyzed by liquid scintillation counting. Liver and lungs were the target organs for 35S-PFOS in the dams. The fetuses and pups had remarkable high levels of 35S-PFOS in their lungs as well as in the brain. The male mice were given a high dose and a more environmental relevant dose of 35S-PFOS. PFOS was transferred from the blood to the tissues as the dose increased.In another study the distribution pattern of the shorter homologue PFBS was compared to PFOS. 35S-PFBS was utilized and demonstrated a 5-40 fold lower tissue levels in comparison to PFOS.The pharmacokinetic parameters determined for PFHxS in mice, rats, and monkeys will provide valuable insight in establishing a proper risk assessment for this compound. The study confirms the common species differences in serum elimination half-life that are associated with PFASs.
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