Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polychlorinated quaterphenyls (PCQs) concentrations in skin surface lipids and blood of patients with yusho.

The relationship between PCBs and PCQs concentrations in the skin surface lipids and blood was investigated in this study. PCBs and PCQs concentrations in thirty two patients with PCB poisoning (Yusho) and 20 normal controls were analyzed. The collection of skin surface lipids was performed by the method of cotton pad with 70% ethyl alcohol. The alkaline decomposition method described in the official standard analytical methods for the isolation of PCBs and PCQs fractions was used. In the blood of control group, mean value of PCBs concentration was 2.1 ng/g, and that of PCQs concentration was too low to be detected by our analytical method. On the other hand, the PCBs concentration in the Yusho group were two times higher than those in the control group. The mean value of PCQs concentration was 0.90 ng/g in Yusho group, while it was not detectable in the control group. In the skin surface lipids of patients with Yusho, the mean value of PCBs concentration was 580.0 ng/g, but was 324.4 ng/g in the control group. The mean value of PCQs concentration in the skin surface lipids of Yusho patients was 25.7 ng/g, although it was not detected in the control group. PCBs and PCQs levels in the skin surface lipids were higher than those in the blood. This means that cutaneous sebaceous system is one of the excreted systems of polyhalogenated chemicals, such as PCBs or PCQs, when these chemicals are precipitated in human or mammalians.