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Environmental Science and Technology 46(8)

Overview of new articles on POPs in a new issue of the Environmental Science & Technology journal.

Evaluating the Effects of Bioremediation on Genotoxicity of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon-Contaminated Soil Using Genetically Engineered, Higher Eukaryotic Cell Lines

Jing Hu, Jun Nakamura, Stephen D. Richardson, and Michael D. Aitken
pp 4607–4613

  • Bioremediation is one of the commonly applied remediation strategies at sites contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). However, remediation goals are typically based on removal of the target contaminants rather than on broader measures related to health risks. We investigated changes in the toxicity and genotoxicity of PAH-contaminated soil from a former manufactured-gas plant site before and after two simulated bioremediation processes: a sequencing batch bioreactor system and a continuous-flow column system. Toxicity and genotoxicity of the residues from solvent extracts of the soil were determined by the chicken DT40 B-lymphocyte isogenic cell line and its DNA-repair-deficient mutants.

Exposure to Toxic Metals and Persistent Organic Pollutants in Inuit Children Attending Childcare Centers in Nunavik, Canada

Huguette Turgeon O’Brien, Rosanne Blanchet, Doris Gagné, Julie Lauzière, Carole Vézina, Émilie Vaissière, Pierre Ayotte, and Serge Déry
pp 4614–4623

  • Arctic populations are exposed to substantial levels of environmental contaminants that can negatively affect children’s health and development. Moreover, emerging contaminants have never been assessed in Inuit children. In this study, we document the biological exposure to toxic metals and legacy and emerging persistent organic pollutants (POPs) of 155 Inuit children (mean age 25.2 months) attending childcare centers in Nunavik. Blood samples were analyzed to determine concentrations of mercury, lead, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), pesticides, brominated flame retardants [e.g., polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs)] and perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances [PFASs; e.g. perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctane (PFOA)].

Assessment of the Binding of Hydroxylated Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers to Thyroid Hormone Transport Proteins Using a Site-Specific Fluorescence Probe

Xiao M. Ren and Liang-Hong Guo
pp 4633–4640

  • Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) have been shown to disrupt thyroid hormone (TH) functions on experimental animals, and one of the proposed disruption mechanisms is the competitive binding of PBDE metabolites to TH transport proteins. In this report, a nonradioactive, site-specific fluorescein–thyroxine (F–T4) conjugate was designed and synthesized as a fluorescence probe to study the binding interaction of hydroxylated PBDEs to thyroxine-binding globulin (TBG) and transthyretin (TTR), two major TH transport proteins in human plasma.

18.4.2012


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