28th Congress of SCTM

HUMAN BIOMONITORING OF ORGANOCHLORINE PESTICIDES AND POLYCHLORINATED BIPHENYLS IN BREAST MILK: OPTIMIZATION OF ANALYTICAL PROCEDURES AND TRACE-LEVEL DETERMINATION

Not scheduled

20m

Metropol Lake Resort

E-poster Analytical and environmental chemistry

Speaker

Stefan Kirovski (Institute of Chemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Ss. Cyril & Methodius University in Skopje)

Description

Human biomonitoring is an important approach for assessing human exposure to environmental contaminants and evaluating potential health risks associated with persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Among the most relevant POPs are organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which are characterized by their persistence, bioaccumulation potential, and ability to transfer from mother to infant through breastfeeding.
This study aimed to develop and optimize an analytical procedure for the determination of selected OCPs and PCBs in human breast milk and to apply the optimized method to samples collected from breastfeeding mothers in North Macedonia. Due to the complexity and high lipid content of the matrix, different extraction, clean-up, and concentration procedures were systematically evaluated. The optimized method was subsequently validated by assessing key analytical performance parameters, including linearity, precision, recovery, limits of detection and quantification, reproducibility, and matrix effects.
Breast milk samples were collected from 30 breastfeeding mothers residing in different cities across North Macedonia. Prior to participation, informed consent was obtained from all mothers. In addition, participants completed a structured questionnaire designed to collect demographic information, lifestyle characteristics, dietary habits, and potential sources of environmental and pesticide exposure. Samples were stored at −20 °C until analysis.
Тhe determination of OCPs and PCBs was performed using gas chromatography coupled with an electron capture detector (GC–ECD). Data processing and statistical evaluation are currently ongoing and will provide valuable information on the occurrence of these contaminants in breast milk, potential exposure patterns, and factors influencing their presence in the studied population. The findings are expected to contribute to the limited data available on human exposure to POPs in North Macedonia and support future biomonitoring initiatives.

Keywords: Biomonitoring, POPs, breast milk, optimization, validation.