Effect of bariatric surgery in the body burden of persistent and non-persistent pollutants: longitudinal study in a cohort of morbidly obese patients

Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2024 Jul 22:15:1412261. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2024.1412261. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Introduction: Obesity is a pathological state that involves the dysregulation of different metabolic pathways and adipose tissue cells, constituting a risk factor for the development of other diseases. Bariatric surgery is the most effective treatment. The study of the behavior of pollutants in situations of extreme weight loss can provide biomonitoring information and tools to manage diseases of environmental etiology.

Aim: To determine the prevalence of serum persistent and non-persistent pollutants in obese patients subjected to bariatric surgery and analyze the impact of sociodemographic variables on these changes.

Methods: GC-MS/MS and UHPLC-MS/MS were utilized to determine the detection rates and concentrations of 353 compounds, including persistent organic pollutants (POPs), pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and rodenticide, in serum samples of 59 obese patients before and after undergoing bariatric surgery.

Results: Detection rates of p,p'-DDE, HCB, β-HCH, naphthalene, phenanthrene and PCB congeners 138, 153 and 180 significantly increased due to surgery-induced weight loss. Serum levels of p,p'-DDE, PCB-138, PCB-153 and PCB-180 also increased after surgery. Correlations between naphthalene levels, weight loss, variation of total lipids and time after surgery were found. Additionally, correlations were observed between concentrations of PCB-138 and weight loss, and between phenanthrene levels and reduction of total lipids. No statistically significant differences were observed for other groups of contaminants, pharmaceuticals and other chemicals included in the quantification methods.

Conclusions: Increment of POPs was observed after bariatric surgery. Serum concentrations of POPs after surgery were influenced by adiposity-related variables. Although biomonitoring studies show a decreasing tendency of exposure, rapid weight loss leads to an increase of circulating POPs. Further research on the interplay between adipose tissue, POPs and peripheral organs is required.

Keywords: bariatric surgery; obesity; obesogens; persistent organic pollutants; weight loss.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Bariatric Surgery*
  • Body Burden
  • Cohort Studies
  • Environmental Pollutants / blood
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Obesity, Morbid* / blood
  • Obesity, Morbid* / surgery
  • Persistent Organic Pollutants / blood
  • Tandem Mass Spectrometry
  • Weight Loss

Substances

  • Persistent Organic Pollutants
  • Environmental Pollutants

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This research was partially funded by a predoctoral grant to ÁR-L from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC-2021-2022) and by a post-doctoral grant to the author AA-D (APCR2022010003) from the Catalina Ruiz research staff training aid program of the Regional Ministry of Economy, Knowledge and Employment of the Canary Islands Government.