| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立成功大學 === 環境醫學研究所 === 88 === Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), and polychlorinated dibenzo-p-furans (PCDFs) are among the most widespread environmental pollutants. Accumulation in human tissues with these lipophilic compounds is often considered as a potential threat to human health. Livers are the most sensitive organs observed in toxicological animal studies and consequential liver damages caused by the toxins are commonly observed. Several epidemiological studies have shown that occupational and non-occupational human exposures of PCBs, PCDDs and PCDFs, such as those of PCBs in transformer/capacitor factories and PCDDs/PCDFs in an industrial accident occurring in Seveso, Italy, were linked to abnormalities in liver function. In these studies, levels of total PCBs/PCDDs/PCDFs, rather than levels of specific PCB/PCDD/PCDF congeners, in the blood samples are often used to study their association with the health effects. Abnormalities in liver function and liver cirrhosis were also reported in the Yu-cheng patients in Taiwan.
A nested case-control design was used within a cohort of subjects, 2061 Yu-cheng patients in Taiwan, which has been followed up by Guo and his co-workers since 1991. The study aims to investigate the relationship between blood levels of PCB/PCDD/PCDF congeners and observed abnormal liver function in Yu-cheng patients by measuring the concentrations of specific congeners in the blood samples. Gas chromatography-electron capture detection (GC-ECD) and gas chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (GC-HRMS) are utilized for the congener-specific measurements.
PCB/PCDD/PCDF congener levels in the blood of 41 Yu-cheng patients were analyzed. The average concentration of the total PCDDs/PCDFs of the blood samples was found to be 6893 pg/g-lipid and the concentration of 1,2,3,4,7,8-HxCDF (1741pg/g-lipid) was the highest among seventeen PCDD/PCDF congeners determined in the blood samples. The average total PCBs concentration in the blood samples was found to be 2921 pg/mg-lipid and the concentration of PCB 28/31 (397pg/mg-lipid) was the highest among thirty-four PCB congeners. After adjustment for cholesterol and body mass index (BMI), there were statistically significant positive correlations between liver function and some PCB levels (PCB 28/31, 44, and 189).
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