The determination of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the colostrums of women in preterm labor

Background: Human milk not only contains nutrients and antibodies, but also can be used as an indicator for levels of organic pollutants in human bodies. We developed a method for determining persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the colostrum of women in preterm labor, the POPs of 36 colostrurn samples have been examined. Methods: Thirty-six samples of colostrum from preterm, women were extracted by acetone-acetonitrile, enriched and purified by solid-phase Florisil columns. The purified POPs were further separated by the capillary columns, and detected by the gas chromatography-electron capture detection (GC-ECD). Results: The average recovery rates of 6 types of organochlorine-based pesticides were 80.2%-112.1%, which represent the first 3 categories of the 12 species of POPs. The precise quantities detected were 3.85%-9.32% (the limits of detection were 0.03 mu g/l to 0.08 mu g/l), and the linear correlation coefficients were >= 0.9969. Of the 36 women tested, 10 (27.8%) were found to have colostrums containing traces of dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT), and 2 (5.56%) were tested positive for dieldrin. Conclusions: The combination of using GC-ECD proved to be both accurate and reliable, and this process proved to be both simple and time-effective. This method is applicable for determining the levels of POPs in organisms. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.