Concentration and distribution of parabens, triclosan, and triclocarban in pregnant woman serum in China

• Published in: The Science of the total environment 2020-03, Vol.710, p.136390, Article 136390
• Main Authors: Li, Aijing, Zhuang, Taifeng, Zhu, Qingqing, Song, Maoyong, Liao, Chunyang, Jiang, Guibin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Carbanilides - analysis; China; Chromatography, Liquid; Female; Geographical distribution; Human exposure; Humans; Parabens - analysis; Parabens and their metabolites; Pregnancy; Pregnant woman serum; Tandem Mass Spectrometry; Triclocarban; Triclosan; Triclosan - analysis
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.136390

Despite mass production and widespread use of parabens, triclosan (TCS), and triclocarban (TCC) in a range of personal care products, little is known about their concentrations and distribution in pregnant woman serum in China. In this study, 5 parabens (methyl- (MeP), ethyl- (EtP), butyl- (BuP), heptyl- (HeP) and benzyl-parabens (BzP)) and 4 their metabolites (methyl protocatechuate (OH-MeP), ethyl protocatechuate (OH-EtP), 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid (3,4-DHB) and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (4-HB)), TCS, and TCC were measured, by using solid-phase extraction (SPE) and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) techniques, in pregnant woman serum samples collected from 13 provinces in China. Total concentrations of parabens (∑PBs), their metabolites (∑MBs), and TCC and TCS (∑AAs) in serum ranged from 0.221–18.6 (geometric mean (GM): 2.47), 47.4–598 (212), and 0.101–5.84 (1.01) ng/mL, respectively. MeP, EtP, 4-HB and TCS were the dominant compounds, and their GM concentrations were 1.86, 0.239, 211 and 1.00 ng/mL, respectively. Geographical distribution of target chemicals in serum was determined. Concentrations of MeP (5.49 ng/mL) and EtP (0.895 ng/mL) in sera from the Northeast China were higher than those from other regions (MeP: 0.987–3.54, EtP: 0.07–0.254 ng/mL; p