Polychlorinated biphenyls and their metabolites in human blood : Method development, identification and quantification

PCBs are well known environmental pollutants. They are also precursors to metabolites, as the hydroxy-PCBs and the methylsulfonyl-PCBs. This thesis presents a validated methodology for analysis of PCB metabolites and a structural identification of 38 hydroxy-PCBs in human blood. Further methodological development resulted in an identification of a similar number of methylsulfonyl-PCBs. The analytical method has been applied in two extensive studies of humans, consisting of maternal and cord blood from Dutch women and of blood from humans living in Slovakia. The Dutch shows that the relative transfer of hydroxy-PCBs from the mother to the foetus is higher compared to the PCBs. Even though the chemical plant in Michalovce in Slovakia had been shut down for over 20 years, the concentrations of PCB and its metabolites were among the highest detected in European human blood