• Proceedings of the Korea Society of Environmental Toocicology Conference
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• 2002.05a
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• pp.64-65
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• 2002

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.155-163
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• 2003

Fluoranthene, a common polycyclicaromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), exhibits phototoxicity which may affect aquatic organisms. The eventual goal of this study is to develop a biomarker of Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) used in monitoring hazardous chemicals in the ecosystem. In this study we investigated neural toxicity of fluoranthene in Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) along with comparative analysis of corresponding behavioral response. The untreated individuals shooed normal behavioral characteristics (i. e., smooth and linear movements). The treated fish, however, showed stopping and abrupt change of orientation (100 ppb), and severely reduced locomotive activity and enhanced surfacing activity (1,000 ppb). Treatment of the medaka fish with fluoranthene caused a significant suppresson of acetycholine esterase (AChE) activities in the body portion but not in the head portion. When fish were exposed to 1,000 ppb of fluoranthene for 24 hr, the body AChE activities decreased from 126.${\pm}$31.89 (nmoles substrate hydrolyzed per min per mg protein) to 49.51${\pm}$11.99. Expressions of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) protein in the different organs from both head and body portions were comparatively analyzed using an immunohistochemical technique. Five organs of the medaka fish showing a strong TH protein expression were the olfactory bulb, hypothalamus, optic lobe, pons and myelencephalon regions. This study provides molecular and neurobehavioral bases of a biomonitoring system for toxic chemicals using fish as a model organism.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.113-117
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• 2008

Biomonitoring of nonylphenol (NP), an endocrine disrupting chemical, is required in Korea to perform its proper regulation. Thus, we analyzed exposure levels of nonlyphenol (NP) in breast milk from the mothers who delivered babies within 10 days (N=325). We analyzed free and total forms of NP in breast milk with LC/MS/MS (LOD, 0.5 ppb). In addition, we obtained questionnaires concerning lifestyle from the subject. As results, ranges of total NP were ${\mu}g/L$ (median, $3.51{\pm}4.98{\mu}g/L$ vs. normal, N=281, $2.07{\pm}3.76{\mu}g/L$; p<0.05). In conclusion, we suggest that exposure monitoring of NP should be continuously performed, even though the risks of NP are not clear, yet.

• Journal of Aquaculture
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.196-201
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• 2003

Sessile organisms such as the oyster Crassostrea gigas have been given much attention as a potential biomonitoring indicator to assess the impact of toxicants on aquatic organism. In this study, we exposed cells isolated from gill of oyster (Crassostrea gigas) to hydrogen peroxide in vitro. In addition oysters were in vivo exposed to pyrene and benzo(a)pyrene at various concentrations for 2 weeks. Comet assay was used to detect DNA single strand breaks and to investigate the application of this technique as a tool for aquatic biomonitoring. Hydrogen peroxide increased DNA single strand break with increasing concentration after 30 minutes exposure in vitro. Pyrene and benzo(a)pyrene caused DNA damage only at very high concentration (100 $\mu\textrm{g}$/L or 1000 $\mu\textrm{g}$/L) at two week exposure in vivo. DNA damage was relatively higher at hemocyte than at gill. It suggested that metabolized PAHs are transferred to hemolymph from digestive gland which have a relatively high enzyme activity, and attacked the DNA of hemocyte, while gill accumulated PAHs without degrading them to their metabolites due to low enzyme activity at gill. Both in vitro and in vivo exposure experiments showed that the comet assay is an effective tool on screening whether the organism are exposed to genotoxic contaminants.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.450-464
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• 2016

Objectives: This study developed and validated reference materials (RMs) to analyze metal compounds in blood. Methods: We referred to KoNEHS (Korea National Environmental Health Survey) to estimate concentrations of blood metals (cadmium, Cd; lead, Pb; mercury, Hg) and applied analytical methods (inductively coupled plasma - mass spectroscopy, ICP-MS, for Cd and Pb; graphite furnace - atomic absorption spectrometry, GF-AAS, for Cd and Pb; and direct mercury analyzer, DMA, for Hg). Homogeneity and stability tests were carried out. In addition, certified values and uncertainties of RMs were calculated through internal and external experiments. All RMs were developed and assessed in various forms according to element, analytical method, and two types of concentration levels high concentration for occupational exposure and low concentration for environmental exposure. Results: All samples showed acceptable homogeneity, except for low concentration of Cd in the GF-AAS method. Short- and long-term stabilities were satisfied by ANOVA testing. In the inter-laboratory comparison, robust medians were lower than the certified values of all RMs (robust median/reference value; $1.301/1.327{\mu}g/L$ for Cd, ICP-MS, low concentration; $3.152/3.388{\mu}g/L$ for Cd, ICP-MS, high concentration; $1.219/1.301{\mu}g/L$ for Cd, GF-AAS, low concentration; $3.074/3.321{\mu}g/L$ for Cd, GF-AAS, high concentration; $14.473/14.516{\mu}g/L$ for Pb, ICP-MS, low concentration; $50.069/50.114{\mu}g/L$ for Pb, ICP-MS, high concentration; $12.881/14.147{\mu}g/L$ for Pb, GF-AAS, low concentration; $47.015/47.591{\mu}g/L$ for Pb, GF-AAS, high concentration; $4.059/4.218{\mu}g/L$ for Hg, DMA, low concentration; $11.474/11.181{\mu}g/L$ for Hg, DMA, high concentration). Conclusion: This study demonstrates procedures for developing and validating RMs for biomonitoring in the field of the environmental health.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.85-91
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• 2014

Deoxynivalenol (DON) and related trichothecene mycotoxins are extensively distributed in the cereal-based food and feed stuffs worldwide. Recent climate changes and global grain trade increased chance of exposure to more DON and related toxic metabolites in poorly managed production systems. Monitoring the biological and environmental exposures to the toxins are crucial in protecting human and animals from toxicities of the hazardous contaminants in food or feeds. Exposure biomarkers including urine DON itself are prone to shift to less harmful metabolites by intestinal microbiota and liver metabolic enzymes. De-epoxyfication of DON by gut microbes such as Eubacterium strain BBSH 797 and Eubacterium sp. DSM 11798 leads to more fecal secretion of DOM-1. By contrast, most of plant-derived DON-glucoside is also easily catabolized to free DON by gut microbes, which produces more burden to body. Phase 2 hepatic metabolism also contributes to the glucuronidation of DON, which can be useful urine biomarkers. However, chemical modification could be very typical depending on the anthropologic or genetic background, luminal bacteria, and hepatic metabolic enzyme susceptibility to the toxins in the diet. After toxin exposure, effect biomarkers are also important in estimating the linkage and mechanisms of foodborne diseases in human and animal population. Most prominent adverse effects are demonstrated in the DON-induced immunological and behavioral disorders. For instance, acutely elevated interleukin-8 from insulted gut exposed to dietaty DON is a dominant clinical biomarker in human and animals. Moreover, subchronic exposure to the toxins is associated with high levels of serum IgA, a biological mediator of IgA nephritis. In particular, anorexia monitoring using mouse models are recently developed to monitor the biological activities of DON-induced feed refusal. It is also mechanistically linked to alteration of serotoin and peptide YY, which are promising biomarkers of neurological disorders by the toxins. As animal-alternative biomonitoring, huamn enterocyte-based assay has been developed and more realistic gut mimetic models would be useful in monitoring the effect biomarkers in resposne to toxic contaminants in the future investigations.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.156-160
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• 2016

Background: Workers in pesticide manufacturing industries are constantly exposed to pesticides. Genetic biomonitoring provides an early identification of potential cancer and genetic diseases in exposed populations. The objectives of this biomonitoring study were to assess DNA damage through comet assay in blood samples collected from industry workers and compare these results with those of classical analytical techniques used for complete blood count analysis. Methods: Samples from controls (n = 20) and exposed workers (n = 38) from an industrial area in Multan, Pakistan, were subjected to various tests. Malathion residues in blood samples were measured by gas chromatography. Results: The exposed workers who were employed in the pesticide manufacturing industry for a longer period (i.e., 13-25 years) had significantly higher DNA tail length ($7.04{\mu}m$) than the controls ($0.94{\mu}m$). Workers in the exposed group also had higher white blood cell and red blood cell counts, and lower levels of mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), MCH concentration, and mean corpuscular volume in comparison with normal levels for these parameters. Malathion was not detected in the control group. However, in the exposed group, 72% of whole blood samples had malathion with a mean value of 0.14 mg/L (range 0.01-0.31 mg/L). Conclusion: We found a strong correlation ($R^2=0.91$) between DNA damage in terms of tail length and malathion concentration in blood. Intensive efforts and trainings are thus required to build awareness about safety practices and to change industrial workers' attitude to prevent harmful environmental and anthropogenic effects.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.529-540
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• 2019

Objectives: The aim of this study is to compare exposure levels of PAHs and benzene metabolites in the urine of nationally representative adults in Korea and identify exposure factors in relation to questionnaire results. Methods: The study analyzed PAHs and benzene metabolites in the urine of adults aged 19 and older recruited in Cycles 1-3 of the Korean National Environmental Health Survey (KoNEHS). Participants were administered questionnaires on demographic characteristics, lifestyle, and dietary habits to identify the association with exposure levels to environmental chemicals. Results: 1-hydroxypyrene and t,t-muconic acid levels in this study were higher than those in large-scale biomonitoring conducted in other countries (the US and Canada), while 2-hydroxynaphthalene levels were lower. Most environmental chemicals exhibited significant differences depending on gender and age, and exposure levels tended to increase with grilled food intake. In addition, variables such as smoking, distance between home and a road, travelling on public transportation, and ventilation time had a significant effect on exposure to environmental chemicals. Conclusions: The importance of this study lies in utilizing the representative results of KoNEHS, large scale biomonitoring conducted in Korea over roughly ten years. Variables including smoking and roasted food intake were found to affect exposure to PAHs and benzene, which can be used to establish baseline exposure levels of environmental chemicals in Korea.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.607-617
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• 2020

Human bio-monitoring (HBM) data is a very important resource for tracking total exposure and concentrations of a parent chemical or its metabolites in human biomarkers. However, until now, it was difficult to execute the integration of different types of HBM data due to incompatibility problems caused by gaps in study design, chemical description and coding system between different sources in Korea. In this study, we presented a standardized code system and HBM knowledge model (KM) based on relational database modeling methodology. For this purpose, we used 11 raw datasets collected from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) between 2006 and 2018. We then constructed the HBM database (DB) using a total of 205,491 concentration-related data points for 18,870 participants and 86 chemicals. In addition, we developed a summary report-type statistical analysis program to verify the inputted HBM datasets. This study will contribute to promoting the sustainable creation and versatile utilization of big-data for HBM results at the MFDS.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.431-440
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• 2008

Turbid water or suspended sediment is associated with negative effects on aquatic organisms; fish, aquatic invertebrate, and periphyton. Effects of turbid water on fish differ depending on their developmental stage and a level of turbidity. Low turbid water may cause feeding and predation rates, reaction distance, and avoidance in fish, and it could make fish to die under high turbidity and long period. Therefore, it is very important to find out how turbid water or suspended sediment can affect fish in domestic watersheds. The objectives of this study were 1) to introduce international case studies and their standards to deal with suspended sediment, 2) to determine acute toxicity in 4 major freshwater fishes, and 3) to determine in relation to adverse effect of macroinvertebrates and fish. Impacts of turbid water on fish can be categorized into direct and indirect effects, and some factors such as duration and frequency of exposure, toxicity, temperature, life stage of fish, size of particle, time of occurrence, availability of and access to refugia, etc, play important role to decide magnitude of effect. A review of turbidity standard in USA, Canada, and Europe indicated that each standard varied with natural condition, and Alaska allowed liberal increase of turbidity over natural conditions in streams. Even though acute toxicity with four different species did not show any fatal effect, it should be considered to conduct a chronic test (long-term) for more detailed assessment. Compared to the control, dominance index of macroinvertebrates was greater in the turbid site, whereas biotic index, species diversity index, species richness index, and ecological score were smaller in the turbid site. According to histopathological analysis with gills of macroinvertebrate and fishes, morphological and physiological modification of gills due to suspended sediments can cause disturbance of respiration, excretion and secretion. In conclusion, in order to maintain good and healthy aquatic ecosystem, it is the best to minimize or prevent impact by occurrence of turbid water in stream and reservoir. We must make every effort to maintain and manage healthy aquatic ecosystem with additional investigation using various assessment tools and periodic biomonitoring of fish.