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

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- (Mel)), 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 (Sigma PBs), their metabolites (Sigma MBs), and TCC and TCS (Sigma 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, 0239, 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: 0.07-0254 ng/mL; p < 0.05). The highest 4-HB concentrations were found in sera from the Southwest China (GM: 286 ng/mL), whereas the TCS concentrations in sera from the North China (1.18 ng/mL) were higher than those found for other regions (p < 0.05). The estimated daily intakes (EDIs; range: 49.5-126 mu g/kg body weight (bw)/day) showed that the Chinese women were in a low health risk from exposure to such chemicals. This is the first study to report concentration profiles of parabens, TCS and TCC in pregnant woman serum in China. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.