Title: Using the CALUX bioassay for screening and determination of dioxin-like compounds in human milk

Auteur(s): Laier P ;  ; 

Year: 2001

Journal: Organohalogen Compounds

Subject(s): CALUX ; bioassay ; human milk ;  ; 

Summary: Dioxins, PCBs and other related compounds constitute a group of persistent environmental contaminants exhibiting a broad spectrum of biological and toxic effects. Due to their lipophilic character and metabolic stability they accumulate in the food chain and biological matrices including human adipose tissue, blood and milk. The vulnerability of the food chain has been illustrated by some of the recent incidents where feeding stuffs have been contaminated with dioxins or PCBs. To prevent the consumer from unacceptably high exposure of these compounds, The Commission of the European Communities is considering setting maximum limits for dioxins in food and feeding stuffs. In order to monitor the levels of dioxin-like compounds in food, feeding stuffs and human tissues there is a need for screening methods with a high sample throughput. The cell-based bioassay CALUX (Çhemical Activated Luciferase EExpression) is a reporter gene assay that determines the total dioxin-like activity in a sample. The objective of the present study was to validate the CALUX bioassay as a screening method for human milk samples by 1) testing the additivity of standard dioxin-like compounds in a mixture 2) determine the variations for sample preparation and clean-up procedure and 3) determine the total TEQ in human milk samples by comparing the data obtained in CALUX with GC/MS data.