Assessment of Persistent, Bioaccumulative and Toxic Organic Environmental Pollutants in Liver and Adipose Tissue of Alzheimer's Disease Patients and Age-matched Controls.

BACKGROUND

Lifetime exposure to environmental (neuro) toxicants may contribute to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Since many contaminants do not cross the blood-brain barrier, brain tissue alone cannot serve to assess the spectrum of environmental exposures.

METHODS

We used liquid and gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry to monitor, in postmortem liver and adipose tissues of AD patients and age-matched controls, the occurrence and concentrations of 11 environmental contaminants.

RESULTS

Seven toxicants were detected at 100% frequency: p,p'-DDE, dieldrin, triclosan, methylparaben, bisphenol A, fipronil and tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA). Intra-individual, tissuedependent differences were detected for triclosan, methylparaben, fipronil and TBBPA. High concentrations of p,p'-DDE and dieldrin were observed in adipose tissue when compared to liver values for both AD cases and controls.

CONCLUSION

This study provides vital data on organ-specific human body burdens to select analytes and demonstrate the feasibility of analyzing small sample quantities for toxicants suspected to constitute AD risk factors.