[Examination of urine acrolein in Yusho victims]

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) causes the release of superoxide during the metabolic process. Therefore, Yusho victims are thought to be exposed to oxidative stress caused by PCB, because high concentrations of PCB are still detected in the serum of Yusho victims. Recently, acrolein (ACR) has been reported to be one of excellent markers of oxidative stresses. In order to estimate the influence of oxidative stress by PCB, we measured urine ACR in Yusho victims and age-matched controls. The mean concentration of urine ACR was 355.4 +/- 37.2 in Yusho victims and 314.5 +/- 54.6 nmol/ml in controls, respectively. Unfortunately, there was no difference in urine concentrations of ACR between Yusho victims and controls. ACR is reported to be one of ubiquitous pollutants in the environment. It was supposed that PCB can give rise to ACR as an oxidative stress, but the influence seemed to be common even in the control subjects who had never been exposed to PCB. The exact mechanism is still unclear, and further examinations should be conducted in the near future.