Adipose tissue, pesticides

The method of choice for the determination of a- and P-endosulfan in blood, urine, liver, kidney, brain, and adipose tissue is gas chromatography equipped with an electron capture detector (GC/ECD) (Coutselinis et al. 1976 Demeter and Heyndrickx 1979 Demeter et al. 1977 Le Bel and Williams 1986). This is because GC/ECD is relatively inexpensive, simple to operate, and offers a high sensitivity for halogens (Griffith and Blanke 1974). After fractionation of adipose tissue extracts using gel permeation chromatography, detection limits of low-ppb (1.2 ng/g) were achieved for endosulfan and other chlorinated pesticides using GC/ECD (Le Bel and Williams 1986). 

Of the 16 POPs listed in the 1998 Aarhus Protocol [27], 11 are organochloride pesticides, which have now been banned in several countries. Most concerns regarding these products relate to their toxicity, with health effects to humans ranging from lung damage and neurological problems to death. Many organochloride pesticides are lipophilic, and they accumulate in the adipose tissues. 

Organochlorine pesticides have been detected in samples of fat tissues. However, endrin was not found in adipose tissue samples of the general population (Stanley 1986 Williams et al. 1988). In pesticide manufacturing workers, endrin was found in the adipose tissue only after very high exposures. Endrin has been detected in the milk of lactating women (0.02-6.24 mg/kg milk fat) (Alawi et al. 1992 Bordet et al. 1993). In conclusion, the quantitation of endrin exposure, via parent compound or metabolite, remains difficult at best. Further studies characterizing the pharmacokinetics of endrin are needed. 

Kanja LW, Skaare JU, Ojwang SBO, et al. 1992. A comparison of organochlorine pesticide residues in maternal adipose tissue, maternal blood, cord blood, and human milk from mother/infant pairs. Arch Environ Contain Toxicol 22 21-24. 

Teshke K, Kelly SJ, Wiens M, et al. 1993. Concentrations of organochlorine pesticides in the adipose tissue of British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Public Health 84(3) 192-196. 

Holt RL, Cruse S, Greer ES. 1986. Pesticide and polychlorinated biphenyl residues in human adipose tissue from Northeast Louisiana. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 36(5) 651-655. 

Kutz FW, Wood PH, Bottirnore DP. 1991. Organochlorine pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls in human adipose tissue. In Ware GW, ed. Reviews of environmental contamination and toxicology. Seacacus, NJ Springer-Veriag, New York, Inc., 120 1-82. 

Macleod KE, Hanisch RC, Lewis RG. 1982. Evaluation of gel permeation chromatography for clean up of human adipose tissue samples for gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric analysis of pesticides and other chemicals. J Anal Toxicol 6(1) 38-40. 

Extremely sensitive analytical methods have been developed for the detection of heptachlor and heptachlor epoxide in various environmental and biological samples (detection limits as low as 10 ng/L). Although most methods were developed for detecting heptachlor and heptachlor epoxide in environmental media, the technology is readily adaptable to biological materials including breast milk, adipose tissue, and serum. These methods can be used to determine whether exposure has occurred. The presence of heptachlor may reflect an exposure to heptachlor or chlordane because it is a metabolite of chlordane. The presence of heptachlor epoxide may reflect an exposure to heptachlor or to chlordane since it is a metabolite of both these pesticides. However, in the absence of stable chlordane residues (e.g., nonachlor and oxychlordane), the heptachlor epoxide would most likely have been derived from heptachlor. 

Arthur RD, Cain JD, Barrentine BF. 1975 The effect of atmospheric levels of pesticides on pesticide residues in rabbit adipose tissue and blood sera. Bull Environ Contamin Toxicol 14(6) 760- 764. 

Banquet A, Morgade C, Pfaffenberger CD. 1981. Determination of organochlorine pesticides and metabolites in drinking water, human blood serum, and adipose tissue. J Toxicol Environ Health 7 469- 479. 

Burns JE. 1974. Pesticides in people. Organochlorine pesticide and polychlorinated biphenyl residues in biopsied human adipose tissue-Texas 1969-72. Pestic Monit J 7(3-4) 122-126. 

Greer ES, Miller DJ, Burscato FN, et al. 1980. Investigation of pesticide residues in human adipose tissue in the northeast Louisiana area. J Agric Food Chem 28 76-78. 

Radomski JL, Deichmann WB, Clizer EE, et al. 1968. Pesticide concentrations in the liver, brain, and adipose tissue of terminal hospital patients. Food Cosmet Toxicol 6 209-220. 

Wassermann M, Tomatis L, Wassermann D, et al. 1974. Pesticides in people Epidemiology of organochlorine insecticides in the adipose tissue of Israelis. Pestic Monit J 8(1) 1-7. 

LeBel GK, Williams DT. 1986. Pesticide and industrial chemical residues Determination of helogenated contaminants in human adipose tissue. J Assoc Off Anal Chem 69 451-458. 

G. Liljegren et al., Case-control Study on Breast Cancer and Adipose Tissue Concentrations of Congener Specific Polychlorinated Biphenyls, DDE and Hexachlorobenzene, Eur. J. Cancer Prev. 7 (1998) 155-40 R. J. Helzlsouer et al., Serum Concentrations of Organochlorine Compounds and the Subsequent Development of Breast Cancer, Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers. Prev. 8 (1999) 525-52 J. F. Dorgan, Serum Organochlorine Pesticides and PCBs and Breast Cancer Risk Results from a Prospective Analysis, Cancer Causes and Control 10 (1999) 1-11 G. A. S. Mendonca et al., Organochlorines and Breast Cancer a Case-control Study in Brazil, Int. 

J. Cancer 85 (1999) 596-600 E. M. Ward et al., Serum Organochlorine Levels and Breast Cancer A Nested Case-control Study of Norwegian Women, Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers. Prev. 9 (2000) 1557-67 D. Bagga et al., Organochlorine Pesticide Content of Breast Adipose Tissue from Women with Breast Cancer and Control Subjects, J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 92... 

The 1991 National Research Council report Monitoring Human Tissues for Toxic Substances recommended that any new program to assay chemical concentrations in tissues of the U.S. population be based primarily on analysis of blood. The use of blood permits sampling of a wider sector of the population, better comparison of exposed populations with national averages, repeat sampling of persons who have high tissue concentrations, and opportunities to follow chemical clearance with time. The 1991 report also advised analysis of adipose tissue (especially for persistent pesticides) that would provide continuity with previous studies and confirmation that a survey based on blood also detects important tissue residues of persistent chemicals (NRC 1991). 

Kang, Y.-S., Matsuda, M., Kawano, M., Wakimoto, T., Min, B.-Y., 1997. Organochlorine pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls, polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofu-rans in human adipose tissue from western Kyungnam, Korea. Chemosphere 35, 2107— 2117. 

In an interesting work in Farah, Mathura District, India, Dua et al. (1998) collected the skin lipids from face and blood from the occupationally exposed and unexposed volunteers and found that the levels of both HCHs and DDTs were higher in the samples obtained from the exposed group. They have also found an increase in the levels of both the compounds in Delhi population when compared with the data reported in previous publications on the concentrations in the adipose tissue collected a decade before in Delhi (Ramachandran et al., 1984) and several other parts of India (Kaphalia and Seth, 1983), reflecting the intensive use of these pesticides for malaria control in the sampling area. 

Kaphalia, B.S., Seth, T.D., 1983. Chlorinated pesticide residues in blood plasma and adipose tissue of normal and exposed human population. Indian I. Med. Res. 77, 245-247. 

Table 16.1. Levels of pesticides in human adipose tissue from various countries... 

Kashimoto, T., Takayama, K., Minura, M., Miyata, H., Murakami, Y., Matsumoto, H., 1989. PCDDs, PCDFs, PCBs, coplanar PCBs and organochlorinated pesticides in human adipose tissue in Japan. Chemosphere 19, 921-992. 

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