[ 1 4]
Assessment of environmental exposure to
trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene
[ 1 5] Ljiljana Ske nde r
and Vi˘s nja Kara˘c i´c
Asse ssme nt o f e nviro nme ntal e xpo sure to tric hlo ro e thyle ne and te trac hlo ro e thyle ne Enviro nme ntal Manage me nt and He alth
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Results
Blood a n d d r in k in g w a t er con cen t r a t ion s of TRI a n d P E R, a n d p la sm a a n d u r in e con cen -t r a -t ion s of TCA, a r e p r esen -t ed in Ta ble I.
T h e TRI con cen t r a t ion s exceed ed t h e d et ec-t ion lim iec-t in 31 su b jecec-t s (56.4 p er cen ec-t ) a n d ec-t h e P E R con cen t r a t ion s in 44 su b ject s (80.0 p er cen t ). TCA w a s p r esen t in m ea su r a ble a m ou n t s in b ot h p la sm a a n d u r in e. Cor r ela t ion a n a ly ses r evea led sign ifi ca n t r ela t ion -sh ip s (Ta ble II).
Discussion
T h e va r ia t ion of a ll r esu lt s p r esen t ed is m ost p r ob a b ly a r efl ect ion of d iffer en t
en v ir on m en t a l con t a m in a t ion w it h TRI a n d P E R in t h e d iffer en t cit y a r ea s. T h e h igh ly sign ifi ca n t cor r ela t ion ob t a in ed b et w een TRI a n d P E R levels in d r in k in g w a t er (r = 0.767, p
= 0.0000) con fi r m s t h a t t h ese con t a m in a n t s a r e u su a lly p r esen t in t h e sa m e p r op or t ion . A p ossible con seq u en ce of su ch en v ir on m en t a l con t a m in a t ion is cor r ela t ion of TRI a n d P E R in t h e blood (r = 0.428, p = 0.0014) of exa m in ed su b ject s. P r esen ce of TCA in a ll t h e p la sm a a n d u r in e sa m p les clea r ly r esu lt s fr om low -level exp osu r e t o ch lor in a t ed h yd r oca r b on s (m ost ly TRI), w h ich a r e m et a b olized t o TCA sin ce t h er e is n o en d ogen ou s p r od u ct ion of TCA in t h e b ody. T h e sign ifi ca n t cor r ela t ion ob t a in ed (r = 0.629, p = 0.0000) b et w een TCA va lu es in p la sm a a n d t h ose in u r in e w a s a n t icip a t ed . Com p a r ed w it h TRI in blood , b ot h t h e h igh er p er cen t a ge of su b ject s w it h m ea su r a ble P E R con cen t r a t ion a n d t h e h igh er P E R con cen t r a t ion in blood r efl ect t h e k n ow n d iffer en ce in TRI a n d P E R t oxico-k in et ics[13].
In a n u r b a n p op u la t ion , H a jim ir a gh a et a l.[9] r e p or t ed som e h igh er va lu es for b ot h TRI a n d P E R in blood a n d som e low er TCA con cen t r a t ion s in ser u m a n d u r in e. How ever, t h ese a n a ly t es w er e n ot a n a ly sed in t h e sa m e p er son s; TRI a n d P E R w er e d et er m in ed in on e gr ou p of su b ject s a n d TCA in a n ot h er. Accor d in g t o Ziglio et a l.[3], t h e m ed ia n TCA con cen t r a t ion s in p la sm a of t h e in h a b it a n t s of Mila n w er e 38.2, 19.0, a n d 7.5 µg/ L, d e p en d -in g on r esid en ce loca t ion . T h e TCA p la sm a con cen t r a t ion in t h is st u dy (M = 23.53 µg/ L) w a s b et w een Ziglio et a l.’s fi r st t wo va lu es, bu t t h eir r a n ge (15.4-410.0 µg/ L) w a s la r ger t h a n ou r s (8.6-123.97 µg/ L).
Kid o et a l.[7] st u d ied w ellw a t er con t a m in a -t ion by P E R a n d fou n d -t h a -t P E R cou ld b e d et ect ed in t h e blood of in h a b it a n t s w h o d r a n k w a t er fr om w ells in w h ich t h e P E R con cen t r a t ion exceed ed 120 µg/ L. How ever, Kid o et a l.’s d et ect ion lim it of P E R d et er m in a -t ion w a s ver y h igh , i.e., 0.5 µg/ L.
T h e TRI a n d P E R con cen t r a t ion s fou n d in d r in k in g-w a t er sa m p les fr om Za gr eb w er e h igh er t h a n t h ose r e p or t ed for 100 cit ies in t h e for m er Fed er a l Re p u blic of Ger m a n y in 1977[11], a n d t h ey w er e low er, com p a r ed w it h t h e TRI a n d P E R va lu es in t h e d r in k in g w a t er su p p ly of Mila n , It a ly [3] a n d Ga licia ,
Sp a in [14].
It is a ssu m ed t h a t in gest ion con st it u t es t h e ch ief r ou t e of exp osu r e t o t h e in vest iga t ed ch em ica ls. Su ch a n a ssu m p t ion d isr e ga r d s ot h er r ou t es of exp osu r e, e.g., sk in a b sor p t ion d u r in g b a t h in g or sw im m in g a n d in h a la t ion of va p ou r s w h ile sh ow er in g. McKon e[15] in d ica t ed t h a t exp osu r e by in h a la t ion t o vola t ile ch em ica ls in t a p w a t er m ay r e p r esen t a s m u ch or m or e exp osu r e t h a n fr om fl u id Table I
Me dian (M) and range (R) c o nc e ntratio ns o f tric hlo ro e thyle ne (TRI) and te trac hlo ro e thyle ne (PER) in blo o d and drinking wate r, and o f tric hlo ro ac e tic ac id (TCA) in plas ma and urine o f the Z agre b po pulatio n
M R
Blood
TRI µg/ L 0 .0 1 9 <0 .0 1 5 -0 .0 9 0 PER µg/ L 0 .0 6 4 <0 .0 1 0 -0 .2 3 9 Drinking water
TRI µg/ L 5 .0 9 2 .5 8 -2 2 .9 3
PER µg/ L 1 .7 1 0 .6 3 -7 .3 3
Plasma
TCA µg/ L 2 3 .5 3 8 .6 0 -1 2 3 .9 7
Urine
TCA µg/ 24 h 1 7 .2 1 1 .6 7 -8 5 .1 8
Table II
Statis tic ally s ignific ant re latio ns hips be twe e n indic ato rs in blo o d, plas ma, urine and drinking wate r o f the Z agre b po pulatio n
Relationship r p Regression equation
TRI-B : PER-B 0 .4 2 8 0 .0 0 1 4 PER-B = 0 .0 5 2 + 1 .2 4 7 TRI-B TCA-P : TCA-U 0 .6 2 9 0 .0 0 0 0 TCA-U = 9 .2 5 9 + 0 .3 9 4 TCA-P TRI-W : PER-W 0 .7 6 7 0 .0 0 0 0 PER-W = 0 .4 9 6 + 0 .2 8 2 TRI-W ln TRI-W : ln TCA-P 0 .3 2 2 0 .0 1 6 4 ln TCA-P = 2 .5 6 2 + 0 .3 8 6 ln TRI-W
ln TRI-W : ln TCA-U 0 .3 4 8 0 .0 0 9 3 ln TCA-U = 1 .8 6 7 + 0 .5 3 8 ln TRI-W ln PER-W : ln TCA-P 0 .3 7 0 0 .0 0 5 5 ln TCA-P = 2 .9 6 3 + 0 .4 1 5 ln PER-W
ln PER-W : ln TCA-U 0 .3 4 5 0 .0 0 9 8 ln TCA-U = 2 .5 2 0 + 0 .4 3 9 ln PER-W
[ 1 6]
Ljiljana Ske nde r and Vi˘s nja Kara˘c i´c
Asse ssme nt o f e nviro nme ntal e xpo sure to tric hlo ro e thyle ne and te trac hlo ro e thyle ne Enviro nme ntal Manage me nt and He alth
7 / 4 [1 9 9 6 ] 1 4 –1 6
in gest ion . T h e con t a m in a n t s ava ila ble in t h e in d oor a ir a r e m ob ilized by sh ow er s, b a t h s, t oilet s, d ish w a sh er s, w a sh in g m a ch in es a n d cook in g.
T h e sign ifi ca n t cor r ela t ion s b et w een b ot h ln TRI a n d ln P E R in d r in k in g w a t er r ela t ed t o ln TCA in p la sm a a n d u r in e cou ld b e a r esu lt of t h e in fl u en ce of con t a m in a t ed d r in k -in g w a t er on b ody bu r d en .
Biom a r k er s a r e n eed ed t o id en t ify a n d ch a r a ct er ize exp osu r e t o sp ecifi c en v ir on -m en t a l con t a -m in a n t s. E q u a lly i-m p or t a n t wou ld b e a d eq u a t e st u d ies t o a ssess a dver se h ea lt h effect s a n d r isk s, w h ich a r e, u n for t u -n a t ely, ver y r a r e.
References
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