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Review
. 2022 Dec 31;11(1):41.
doi: 10.3390/toxics11010041.

Partitioning of Persistent Organic Pollutants between Adipose Tissue and Serum in Human Studies

Meg-Anne Moriceau  1 , German Cano-Sancho  1 , MinJi Kim  2 , Xavier Coumoul  3 , Claude Emond  4 , Juan-Pedro Arrebola  5   6   7 , Jean-Philippe Antignac  1 , Karine Audouze  3 , Christophe Rousselle  8
Affiliations
Review

Partitioning of Persistent Organic Pollutants between Adipose Tissue and Serum in Human Studies

Meg-Anne Moriceau et al. Toxics. .

Abstract

Blood is the most widely used matrix for biomonitoring of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). It is assumed that POPs are homogenously distributed within body lipids at steady state; however, the variability underlying the partitioning of POPs between fat compartments is poorly understood. Hence, the objective of this study was to review the state of the science about the relationships of POPs between adipose tissue and serum in humans. We conducted a narrative literature review of human observational studies reporting concentrations of POPs in paired samples of adipose tissue with other lipid-based compartments (e.g., serum lipids). The searches were conducted in SCOPUS and PUBMED. A meta-regression was performed to identify factors responsible for variability. All included studies reported high variability in the partition coefficients of POPs, mainly between adipose tissue and serum. The number of halogen atoms was the physicochemical variable most strongly and positively associated with the partition ratios, whereas body mass index was the main biological factor positively and significantly associated. To conclude, although this study provides a better understanding of partitioning of POPs to refine physiologically based pharmacokinetic and epidemiological models, further research is still needed to determine other key factors involved in the partitioning of POPs.

Keywords: adipose tissue; biomonitoring; meta-regression; partition coefficients; persistent organic pollutants.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare they have no actual or potential competing financial interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRISMA flowchart of search strategy and study selection with exclusion criteria.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Bubble plots representing the associations between the mean partitioning ratios of persistent organic pollutants between adipose tissue and serum reported in the literature and physicochemical properties, including the partition octanol–water (Log Kow, (A)), number of halogen atoms (B), molar volume (C) and molar weight (Mw, (D)).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Bubble plots representing the associations between adipose tissue: serum ratios with body mass index (BMI, (A)), age (B), and year of collection (C) from the random effects meta-regression model. The study [52] was excluded from this analysis because the BMI was not reported.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Bubble plots representing the associations between adipose tissue: serum ratios and body mass index (BMI) from the random effects meta-regression model for specific congeners including PCB 153 (A), PCB 138 (B), PCB 180 (C), BDE 47 (D), BDE 153 (E), and BDE 209 (F). The study [52] was excluded from this analysis because the BMI was not reported.
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