Human serum, PCDD

Table 11 Concentrations (ngkg-1 lipid weight) of PCDD/Fs in human serum from sport fish consumers in the Great Lakes compared to a control group in Jacksonville, Arkansas. Adapted from Anderson et al. [17] ...

Alexander LR, Maggio VL, Gill JB, et al. 1989. Performance of the high sensitivity ion source for PCDD/PCDF analyses in human serum and adipose tissue. Chemosphere 19 241-248. 

Patterson DG Jr, Fiirst P, Alexander LR, et al. 1989b. Analysis of human serum for PCDDs/PCDFs A comparison of three extraction procedures. Chemosphere 19 89-96. 

Patterson DG Jr, Turner WE, Isaacs SG, et al. 1990. A method performance evaluation and lessons learned after analyzing more than 5,000 human adipose tissue, serum, and breast milk samples for polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and dibenzofurans (PCDFs). Chemosphere 20 829-863. 

Another major exposure route for humans is via contaminated food. For example, North America s Great Lakes, which are the largest body of freshwater in the world, are polluted with about 362 contaminants that were found in quantifiable amounts in the water, sediment, and biota (IJC 1983 USEPA 1994). The critical pollutants were identified as PCBs, DDT, dieldrin, toxaphene, mirex, methyl mercury, benzofa) pyrene, hexachlorobenzene, polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), and alkylated lead. Some of these pollutants biomagnify in the aquatic food chain and can be detected in increased levels in cooked Great Lakes fish. Consequently, the blood serum levels of these chemicals are significantly increased in consumers of contaminated Great Lakes sport fish compared to people who do not eat such fish (Flumphrey 1983 Fiore et al. 1989 Sonzogni et al. 1991). 

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