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Polybrominated diphenyl ethers in human milk of Croatian mothers and matched house dust samples

Introduction: Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are flame retardants that have been widely used in everyday household products. They do not form a chemical bond with the materials and therefore can easily migrate and contaminate surrounding environment, including house dust particles. Dust ingestion is one the main routes of human exposure to PBDEs. Once PBDEs enter the organism, they accumulate in lipid-rich tissues, such as human milk the analysis of which provides information about mother and infant exposure, but also about exposure of the general population to PBDEs. PBDEs are known to have adverse health effects, especially on fetal/child development, so it is important to monitor their levels and exposure sources. Materials and Methods: Human milk samples (N=18) from primipara mothers living in Zagreb, Croatia and matched dust samples from their households were collected. Seven PBDE congeners (BDE-28, -47, -99, -100, -153, -154, and -183) were extracted from both matrices by microwave extraction technique (MAE) with n- hexane:acetone (1: 1, v/v) as solvent mixture. Analysis of the purified samples was performed on a dual column gas chromatograph with micro electron capture detectors. Results and Discussion: The sum of the mass fractions of detected PBDE congeners (∑PBDEs) in house dust samples ranged from <LOD to 523.48 ng g-1 dust with BDE-99 being the most abundant congener, followed by BDE-47. Much lower ∑PBDEs were observed in human milk, ranging from 0.20 to 6.29 ng g-1 lw. BDE-153 was the only congener identified in all human milk samples, being the most abundant congener in over 60 % of samples. This agrees with reported data on its longer total-body half-life compared to BDE-99 and BDE- 47. Spearman rank correlation indicated that PBDE concentrations in two matrices did not correlate, which could be a function of a small sample size and/or very low PBDE levels in milk samples. Conclusion: Our results did not show correlations between PBDE levels in house dust and levels measured in matched human milk samples. Generally speaking, human milk levels are in accordance with those previously obtained in Europe indicating no risk for breastfed infants. This work has been supported in part by the Croatian Science Foundation under the project HrZZ-UIP- 2017-05- 6713.

polybrominated diphenyl ethers ; house dust ; human milk ; MAE ; health risk

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