Monitoring of polychlorinated biphenyls in human blood plasma: methodological developments and influence of age, lactation, and fish consumption

Human plasma samples from 50 wives of fishermen have been analyzed with respect to PCBs. The non-ortho-substituted PCB congeners CB-126 and CB-169 were determined by mass spectrometry in negative ion chemical ionization mode, which demonstrated a limit of detection of 30 fg. The recoveries of the internal standards used for determination of ortho-substituted CBs were approximately 95%. Two methods, one gravimetric and the other based on enzymatic determinations of triglycerides, cholesterol and phospholipids, were compared for the determination of total amount of lipids in the plasma samples; the correlation coefficient was 0.82 and the slope 0.98. For practical reasons, enzymatic determinations are recommended for further use. The total, lipid-adjusted concentrations of PCBs in plasma were influenced by age, total lactation time and consumption of fatty fish from the Baltic Sea.