• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.189-195
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• 2003

To enhance the reductive dechlorination of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) under anaerobic conditions, we examined the adjunctive effects of cobalt (Co) and nickel (Ni), which are the central metals of transition-metal cofactors of coenzyme F$\_$430/ and vitamin B$\_$12/, respectively, on the dechlorination of Aroclor 1248. After 32 weeks of incubation, the average numbers of chlorines per biphenyl in culture vials supplemented with 0.2, 0.5, and 1.0 mM of Co reduced from 3.88 to 3.39, 2.92, and 3.28, respectively. However, the numbers of chlorine after supplementing with Ni decreased from 3.88 to 3.43, regardless of the Ni concentrations. The observed congener distribution patterns of all vials with different conditions were similar to the pattern produced by the dechlorination process of H' after 21 weeks of incubation, and these patterns were unchanged up to week 32, except for vials supplemented with 0.5 and 1.0 mM of Co. In vials containing 0.5 mM of Co, meta-rich congeners, such as 25/ 25-,24/25-, and 25/23-chlorobiphenyls (CBPs), which were found as accumulated products of dechlorination in other conditions, were further dechlorinated, and 25/2-, 24/2-, and 2/2-CBPs were concomitantly increased after 32 weeks of incubation. In this case, the congener distribution was similar to the dechlorination pattern of process M. From these results, we suggested that the enrichment of cultures with Co might stimulate the growth of specific populations of meta-dechlorinators, and that populations might promote a change in the dechlorination process from H' to M, which is known to be less effective on the dechlorination of the more highly chlorinated congeners of PCBs.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.88-93
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• 2001

To measure the levels of dioxins in food selling at local markets, meat was analyzed by high resolution gas chromatography/high resolution ass spectrometry (HRGC/HRMS). The food samples were obtained from 5 large cities of Seoul, Chunchon, Daejon, Kwangju and Busan in Korea. All the samples were minced and extracted with Soxhlet extractor for 18 hours. After extraction, extracts were cleaned up by sulfuric acid impregnated silica gel, purified on a series of silica gel, alumina, carbon column chromatography and then analyzed by HRGC/HRMS. The contaminated levels were calculated as the TEQs by multiplying with the corresponding WHO-TEFs for each congeners. The overall recoveries were ranged from 80% to 153% and the limit of detection was about 0.01 ppt at S/N>3. The levels of PCDD/Fs for beef, pork and chicken were 0.018, 0.008 and <0.001 pgTEQ/g, respectively. In addition, the levels of non-ortho-co-planar PCBs for beef, pork and chicken were 0.008, 0.002 and 0.001 pgTEQ/g, respectively. Among food samples analyzed, chicken showed the lowest level of dioxin-like compounds. Regarding congener pattern, OCDD and PCB #77 were the highest contributing congeners.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.107-114
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• 2007

This study aimed to investigate the hexachlorobenzene (HCB) dechlorinating ability of sediment microbes collected from a natural canal receiving secondary effluents from an industrial estate and nearby factories. Nine sites along the stream and one in the estuary in the Gulf of Thailand into which the canal spills were specified and sampling for sediment and water. Preliminary analysis of the sediments showed that the first four sites nearest to the discharging location were contaminated by HCB within the range of 0.18 to 1.25 ppm. Apart from that, 1,3,5-trichlorobenzene which has never been commercially produced or used in any manufacturing processes except for the transformation from higher chlorinated benzene was also identified in the range of 0.16 to 0.24 ppm. This suggested a possibility of sporadically HCB contamination in this stream. Of more important, people in the community along this canal earn their living by coastal fishery; hence, posing a risk of spreading HCB and its less chlorinated congeners via food chain from caught marine creatures to human. As a result, there is an urgent need to understand the behavior of HCB dechlorination in this stream sediment which can lead to a clean-up action in the future. Serum bottles with sediment slurries (sediment to water ratio of 1:1 (v/v) and filtered to remove particles larger than 0.7 mm) from each site were inoculated with 2 mg/l of HCB, kept anaerobically in the dark at room temperature without any nourishment, and analyzed for HCB and its less-chlorinated congeners every 6 days. Total chemical oxygen demand, suspended solids, and volatile suspended solids were in the range of 21,492-73,584, 158,100-518,100 and 6,000-32,700 mg/l, respectively. It was found that all sediment slurries began to dechlorinate HCB in 12 to 30 days and the HCB was completely removed within 42 to 60 days or so. On the other hand, there was no HCB dechlorination occurred in the controlled set which was sterilized by autoclaving prior to the addition of HCB. This implies that the HCB transformation was solely due to microorganisms' activities. HCB was dechlorinated principally via pentachlolobenzene to 1,2,3,5-tetrachlorobenzene and terminated at 1,3,5-trichlorobenzene which is the major pathway as reported by many researchers. Dichlorobenzene has not been detected in any samples within the dechlorination period of 60 days. The results indicate that the microbial matrix in the sediment of this stream has an outstanding capability to dechlorinate HCB. Existing substrates and nutrients which mainly sorbed onto the solid phase and the typical temperature in Thailand were sufficient and suitable to promote the activities of these HCB-dechlorinating microbes.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2004.07a
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• pp.1-20
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• 2004

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), one a group of persistent and widespread environmental pollutants, have been considered to be involved in immunotoxicity, carcinogenesis, and apoptosis. However, the toxic effects and physical properties of a PCB congener are dependent on the structure. In the present study, we investigate the toxic effects and action mechanisms of PCBs In cells. Among the various congeners tested, 2,2',4,6,6'-PeCB-pentachlorobiphenyl (PeCB), a highly ortho-substituted congener having negligible binding affinity for aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), caused the most potent toxicity and specific effects in several cell types. 2,2',4,6,6'-PeCB induced apoptotic cell death of human monocytic cells, suggesting that PCB-induced apoptosis may be linked to immunotoxicity. In addition, 2,2',4,6,6'-PeCB induced mitotic arrest by interfering with mitotic spindle assembly in NIH3T3 fibroblasts, followed by genetic instability which triggers p53 activation. Which suggests that 2,2',4,6,6'-PeCB may be involved in cancer development by causing genetic instability through mitotic spindle damage. On the other hand, 2,2',4,6,6'-PeCB increased cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) involved in cell survival through ERK1/2 MAPK and p53 in Rat-1 fibroblasts and mouse embryonic fibroblasts, triggering compensatory mechanism for abating its toxicity. Taken together, these results demonstrate that PCB congeners of different structure have distinct mechanism of action and 2,2',4,6,6'-PeCB causes several toxicity as well as compensatory mechanism in cells.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.469-480
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• 2011

In this study, to determine the ligninase activity related to the PCBs degradation of Ceriporia sp. ZLY-2010, the protein contents and manganese peroxidase (MnP) and laccase activities during cultivation on shallow stationary culture (SSC) medium were observed. 4 PCB congeners were selected depending on the number of chlorine substituted on biphenyl. Furthermore, to examine the effects of cytochrome P450 monooxygenase, the inhibition of cytochrome P450 monooxygenase was evaluated by measuring the biodegradation rate when inhibitor such as 1-aminobenzotriazole was added. The extracellular protein contents were affected by PCB congeners in culture media. The total protein in the culture medium showed the biggest differences between the samples containing 2,2',4,4',5,5'-hexachlorobiphenyl and the control. On the other hand, MnP and laccase activity showed dominant increases within samples containing 4,4'-dichlorobiphenyl and 2,3',4',5-tetrachlorobiphenyl. Cytochrome P450 monooxygenase was inhibited by adding inhibitor, 1-aminobenzotriazole in low concentration. Only 2.73% of 2,3',4',5-tetrachlorobiphenyl was degraed on day 1, and biodegradation of 2,2',4,4',5,5'-hexachlorobiphenyl was inhibited as well, showing about 20% of biodegradation rate.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.32 no.11
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• pp.995-1000
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• 2010

To investigate the relationship between polychlorinated byphenyls (PCBs) sources and concentration level in sediment, total 63 sediment samples with three-time sampling at one site were measured at 21 sites in Nakdong River. As a result of analysis, total concentrations and toxic equivalent (TEQ) concentration of Dioxin-like PCBs were ranged from 3.0 to 6,600 pg/g-dry with a mean value of 440 pg/g-dry and

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.312-321
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• 2010

Seven indicator PCBs (IUPAC nos 28, 52, 101, 118, 138, 153, 180 congeners) concentrations were measured in food samples including cereal (polished rice), meats, eggs, milk and dairy products, and fisheries and products as representation for the general Korean populations during 2006-2007, and was analyzed using isotopic dilution method. Fishes had the highest average level as 39.8 ng/g, 1.4 ng/g for milk and dairy products, and 0.9 ng/g for meats. The hairtail out of fishes was contaminated at the level of 15.4 ng/g, 5.4 ng/g for pacific mackerel and spanish mackerel, and 4.5 ng/g for yellow croaker. The ratio for indicator PCBs in overall food was contributed as follows; 35.8% for PCB-153, 16.2% for PCB-138, 16.1% for PCB-101, 13.4% for PCB-118, 8.8% for PCB-180, 6.9% for PCB-52, and 2.9% for PCB-28. The hexa-CBs including PCB-153 and 138 were more predominated, and the next was penta-CBs including PCB-101 and 118 in food. For estimated daily intake (EDI) in average and $95^{th}$ percentile, fishes and products out of overall food were taken to represent over 50%. However, it was estimated that there was no adverse health effect for Korean.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.578-584
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• 2003

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) known as environmental contaminants in soil were analyzed by the soil pollution standard process test and the static supercritical $CO_2$ extraction mode. It was shown that the percent average recoveries of PCBs by the soil pollution standard process test were ranged in 25-35% and the corresponding standard deviations were above 10%. In contrast, the percent average recoveries of PCBs by the static supercritical $CO_2$ extraction mode were 2-2.5 times higher and standard deviations were within 7%. These results indicate that static supercritical $CO_2$ extraction mode may be a useful alternative to sample pretreatment certified by the soil pollution standard process test. The increasing supercritical $CO_2$ pressure from 1130 psi to 1996 psi at $40^{\circ}C$ enhanced the recovery of all PCB congeners from soil. However, at same Tc and Pc, the equilibrium time (5 versus 60 minutes) had no effect on the recovery of each PCB congener. Finally, similar PCB recoveries were obtained under the same extraction condition, regardless of the molecular weight and structure (coplanar versus non-coplanar) of PCB congeners.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.511-521
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• 2006

Homologue and isomer patterns of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins(PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans(PCDFs) congeners formed from phenols in the gas-phase at $600{\sim}700^{\circ}C$ and via particle-mediated reactions at $400^{\circ}C$ were studied in an isothermal flow reactor. A mixture of 20 phenols in relative concentrations found in a municipal waste incinerator(MWI) stack gas was used for this study. PCDDs and PCDFs homologue and isomer patterns obtained from the phenol. From the phenol experiments, gas-phase formation at $600{\sim}700^{\circ}C$ favors PCDFs formation whereas particle-mediated formation at $400^{\circ}C$ favors PCDDs formation. DD and DF were most abundant homologue groups, PCDDs and PCDFs homologue fraction decreased with increasing number of chlorine substituents. PCDDs and PCDFs homologue and isomer fractions were almost constant from gas-phase formation and particle-mediated formation. Unsubstituted phenol, which was present in high concentration, played a significant role in the formation of PCDD/Fs congeners under both sets of experimental conditions.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.199-207
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• 2010

In this study, breast milk levels of indicator polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were estimated, and statistics drawn, for 22 Koreans in the general population, aged 26-38, who had resided in metropolitan areas for more than 5 years without occupational exposure to organochlorine pollutants. Concentrations of indicator PCBs were measured using the isotope dilution method with a high resolution gas chromatograph/high resolution mass detector, which provided accurate and precise data for investigation of trends, and international comparisons. The geometric mean of total indicator PCB levels was 22.3 ng/g lipid, which is significantly lower than the level in individuals from European countries. Overall, the geometric mean and 95th percentile of the most abundant congener PCB 153 were 8.04 ng/g lipid and 16.4 ng/g lipid, respectively. PCB congeners 138, 153 and 180 together accounted for about 75% of the indicator congeners analyzed. Breast milk total indicator PCB concentrations were significantly associated with age and parity, but not with body mass index (BMI), rate of body weight increase, or smoking habits. The geometric mean level of PCB 153 in breast milk from mothers with a pre-pregnant BMI < $21\;kg/m^2$ was significantly higher than in pre-pregnant women with a BMI of ${\geqslant}\;21\;kg/m^2$ (p<0.05). Women who ate more fish, meat, and milk products did not have significantly higher total indicator PCB levels than those who ate less of these products, but a significant difference in PCB 153 levels was demonstrated between the subjects consuming higher (11.45 ng/g lipid) and lower (6.79 ng/g lipid) amounts of fish (p<0.05), after adjusting for confounders. These results suggest that age, parity and fish intake are the important factors affecting the concentrations of indicator PCBs in these subjects.