| Polychlorinated Biphenyls and Their Hydroxylated Metabolites (OH-PCBs) in Pregnant Women from Eastern Slovakia June-Soo Park,1,2 Linda Linderholm,3 M. Judith Charles,4 Maria Athanasiadou,3 Jan Petrik,5 Anton Kocan,5 Beata Drobna,5 Tomas Trnovec,5 Åke Bergman,3 and Irva Hertz-Picciotto1 1Department of Public Health Sciences, University of California-Davis, Davis, California, USA; 2Department of Toxic Substances Control, California Environmental Protection Agency, Berkeley, California, USA; 3Department of Environmental Chemistry, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden; 4Department of Environmental Toxicology, University of California-Davis, Davis, California, USA; 5Department of Toxic Organic Pollutants, Slovak Medical University, Bratislava, Slovak Republic Abstract
Objective: Our aim in the present study was to characterize and quantify the levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and specific polychlorobiphenylol (OH-PCB) metabolites in maternal sera from women delivering in eastern Slovakia. Design: During 2002–2004, blood samples were collected from women delivering in two Slovak locations: Michalovce district, where PCBs were formerly manufactured, and Svidnik and Stropkov districts, about 70 km north. Participants: A total of 762 and 341 pregnant women were sampled from Michalovce and Svidnik/Stropkov, respectively, and OH-PCBs were measured in 131 and 31. Evaluation/Measurements: We analyzed PCBs using gas chromatography (GC) /electron capture detection. OH-PCBs and pentachlorophenol (PCP) were determined as methyl derivatives using GC-electron capture negative ionization/mass spectrometry. We characterized distributions in the full cohort using inverse sampling weights. Results: The concentrations of both PCBs and OH-PCB metabolites of Michalovce mothers were about two times higher than those of the Svidnik/Stropkov mothers (p < 0.001) . The median weighted maternal serum levels of the sum of PCBs ( PCBs) were 5.73 ng/g wet weight (Michalovce) and 2.82 ng/g wet weight (Svidnik/Stropkov) . The median sum of OH-PCBs (OH-PCBs) was 0.55 ng/g wet weight in Michalovce mothers and 0.32 ng/g wet weight in Svidnik/Stropkov mothers. 4-OH-2,2´,3,4´,5,5´,6-Heptachlorobiphenyl (4-OH-CB187) was a primary metabolite, followed by 4-OH-2,2´,3,4´,5,5´-hexachlorobiphenyl (4-OH-CB146) . Only four PCB congeners—CBs 153, 138, 180, and 170—had higher concentrations than 4-OH-CB187 and 4-OH-CB146 (p < 0.001) . The median ratio of the OH-PCBs to the PCBs was 0.10. Conclusions: Mothers residing in eastern Slovakia are still highly exposed to PCBs, and their body burdens of these pollutants and OH-PCB metabolites may pose a risk for adverse effects on health for themselves and their children. Key words: hydroxylated PCB metabolites, maternal blood serum, OH-PCBs, PCBs, PCP, pentachlorophenol, polychlorinated biphenyls, Slovakia. Environ Health Perspect 114: 20–27 (2007) . doi:10.1289/ehp.8913 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 22 August 2006]
Address correspondence to J.-S. Park, Department of Toxic Substances Control, California Environmental Protection Agency, 700 Heinz Ave., Berkeley, CA 94710 USA. Telephone: (510) 540-2925. Fax: (510) 540-2305. E-mail: jpark@dtsc.ca.gov We thank the many people who assisted with recruitment and collection of the specimens, with special appreciation for J. Jasovsky, F. Krul, K. Revicka, and P. Suchanek. We especially thank C. Sandau (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA) for helping with the interlaboratory comparison study. This research was funded by the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, grant R01-CA96525. The authors declare they have no competing financial interests. Received 9 December 2005 ; accepted 21 August 2006.
Correction Because of errors in calculations, summary statistics for concentrations of PCBs and OH-PCBs were incorrect in the manuscript originally published online. These errors were in the abstract, Tables 3 and 4, the text in the "Results" referring to these tables, and Figures 2 and 4. These errors have been corrected here.
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