Screening of organic pollutants in pet hair samples and the significance of environmental factors

Science of The Total Environment, 625 (2018) 311–319

10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.12.270

Organic pollutants (OPs) represent a wide range of chemicals that are potentially harmful for human and wildlife health. Many of these pollutants have been identified as endocrine disruptors that can alter hormonal balance producing adverse biological effects such as neurotoxicity, reproductive disorders, carcinogenicity and hepatotoxicity. For years, hair has been selected as a non-invasive source to assess levels of animal contamination. In the present study, a multiclass screening method for determining about 60 organic pollutants in pet hair was designed and validated for qualitative and quantitative purposes. Concentrations from different classes of organochlorine, and organophosphate pesticides (OCPs, and OPPs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (NDL-PCBs and DL-PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and organophosphate esters (OPEs) were identified in the selected pet hair samples from Ourense (NW, Spain). We detected most of these pollutants in the selected hair pets. The mean concentrations found ranged from 89 to 6556 ng/g for OPEs, from 8.6 to 1031 ng/g for PAHs, from 8.6 to 256 ng/g for PBDEs, from 29 to 184 ng/g for OPPs, from 0.29 to 139 for OCPs, from 0.30 to 59 ng/g for NDL-PCBs and from 1.2 to 14 ng/g for DL-PCBs. To our knowledge, this is the first study to document the presence of OPs in pets from North-West Spain and it could provide baseline information for future monitoring of OPs in the area.

Optimization of selective pressurized liquid extraction of organic pollutants in placenta to evaluate prenatal exposure

Journal of Chromatography A

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chroma.2017.03.010

The early exposure to organic pollutants (OPs) related to dietary habit or environmental exposure is a concern of growing interest in environmental health. When OPs enter the body, they can accumulate in fatty tissue and even travel through the bloodstream being able to cross the placenta and reach the fetus through the substance exchange between the mother and the child. Epidemiologic and clinical data affirm that these chemicals increase the risk of adverse effects during childhood. This article reviews and addresses one of the most relevant analytical methods for determining OPs in placenta. We discuss and critically evaluate procedures, such as solid-liquid and selective pressurized liquid extraction (SPLE). Clean-up of extracts was performed by solid-phase extraction (SPE) using EZ-POP cartridges. Detection of OPs was carried out by gas chromatography (GC) coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). Recoveries ranged from 52% to 94% by SPLE with estimated quantification limits between 0.15 and 2.2 ng/g for organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), between 0.083 and 0.50 for organophosphate pesticides (OPPs), between 0.025 and 0.15 ng/g for polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs), between 0.015 and 0.10 ng/g for polybromodiphenyl ethers (PBDEs), between 0.33 and 0.66 ng/g for pyrethroids and between 0.022 and 0.87 ng/g for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Most of the target OPs were detected in twenty real placenta samples studied, with pyrethroids, PAHs and OPPs representing most of the 90% of OPs with means of 13–18 ng/g versus PCBs, OCPs, and PBDEs with means <4.0 ng/g. The rsults of this work indicate a prenatal exposure to OPs in Galicia.