Chloroform content in the blood of the population as a biomarker of exposure to drinking water disinfection by-products

The modern methodological approaches, such as biomonitoring, could be used to improve the evidence base reliability and reduce uncertainty under chemicals health risk assessments and hygienic rationing. The aim of the study was to substantiate using the results of chloroform determination in human blood as a biomarker of exposure to drinking water disinfection byproducts under republican conditions. A gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method for determination of chloroform in whole blood based on the use of acetonitrile as solvent and additional extraction of chloroform from acetonitrile supernatant by small amounts of hexane was developed. Chloroform concentrations in the blood of population at the territories supplied with chlorinated drinking water are significantly higher than that of population at the territories supplied with water without chlorination (0.03–0.54 ng/ml, P95 0.27 ng/ml versus 0.00–0.37 ng/ml, P95 0.13 ng/ml respectively). A proposed linear dependence model enables to predict the chloroform blood level in the exposed population based on water concentrations and vice versa. We recommend the determination of chloroform in the whole blood of the population as an informative biomarker of cumulative exposure, reflecting real exposure scenarios for the preceding period of time, based on identified trends.

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