A Study on Polychlorinated Biphenyls Specifically--Accumulated in Blood of Yusho Patients Collected from Medical Check-Ups in 2012

In this study, we analyzed polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the blood of Yusho patients collected from medical check-ups, which were conducted in 2012. The results show that 65 PCB isomers, not including non-ortho PCBs, were detected in the blood samples, and the total concentration was 620 ng g(-1) lipid. This value was comparable to the concentration in blood samples collected in 2005, and indicated that PCB concentrations in Yusho patients remained unchanged from 2005 to 2012. Here, we focused on major and specific PCB isomers in the blood samples of Yusho patients and normal controls. Examples of the former include hexaCB-153, hexaCB-138, and heptaCB-180, which are detected in human blood, while the latter include hexaCB-156, hexaCB-157, and heptaCB-189, and are highly detected in the blood of Yusho patients. Additionally, we tried to determine why the specific isomers were highly accumulated in the blood of Yusho patients as compared to the normal controls. We therefore analyzed these isomers in the contaminated rice oil, and found that the concentrations of hexaCB-156, hexaCB-157, and heptaCB-189 were 1800, 450, and 190 ng g(-1), respectively. Notably, previous studies indicated that these isomers might not be easily metabolized in humans. Therefore, these findings demonstrated that these isomers were highly accumulated in the blood of Yusho patients.