色谱 ›› 2025, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (6): 571-584.DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1123.2024.11030

• 专论与综述 • 上一篇    下一篇

人体内多环芳烃及其衍生物的代谢转化研究进展

钱柬坤1,2, 何润茗1, 方珂1, 李晨龙1,3, 鲍珊1, 顾雯1,*(), 唐宋1,4,*()   

  1. 1.中国疾病预防控制中心环境与人群健康重点实验室,中国疾病预防控制中心环境与健康相关产品安全所,北京 100021
    2.中国医科大学公共卫生学院,辽宁 沈阳 110122
    3.山东大学齐鲁医学院公共卫生学院,山东 济南 250012
    4.南京医科大学公共卫生学院全球健康中心,江苏 南京 211166
  • 收稿日期:2024-11-30 出版日期:2025-06-08 发布日期:2025-05-21
  • 通讯作者: * Tel:(010)50930183,E-mail:guwen@nieh.chinacdc.cn(顾雯); Tel:(010)50930185,E-mail:tangsong@nieh.chinacdc.cn(唐宋).
  • 基金资助:
    国家自然科学基金项目(82241091);国家自然科学基金项目(82273677)

Progress in the metabolic and biotransformation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and their derivatives in humans

QIAN Jiankun1,2, HE Runming1, FANG Ke1, LI Chenlong1,3, BAO Shan1, GU Wen1,*(), TANG Song1,4,*()   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory of Environment and Population Health,National Institute of Environmental and Health-related Product Safety,Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention,Beijing 100021,China
    2. School of Public Health,China Medical University,Shenyang 110122,China
    3. School of Public Health,Cheeloo College of Medicine,Shandong University,Jinan 250012,China
    4. Center for Global Health,School of Public Health,Nanjing Medical University,Nanjing 211166,China
  • Received:2024-11-30 Online:2025-06-08 Published:2025-05-21
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China(82241091);National Natural Science Foundation of China(82273677)

摘要:

多环芳烃(polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons,PAHs)广泛存在于各类生产及生活环境中,因毒性高对公众健康构成了严重威胁。PAHs及其衍生物可通过多种途径进入人体,在细胞色素P450酶的催化作用下,生成Ⅰ相代谢产物,并进一步在Ⅱ相代谢阶段与谷胱甘肽、葡萄糖醛酸等物质结合,生成水溶性结合产物。不同代谢阶段的产物在人体内的分布与表现形式可作为PAHs暴露的重要标志物。然而,由于不同结构特征的PAHs在代谢机制及其产物种类方面存在显著差异,针对性细化研究策略对于基于生物监测的健康风险评估具有重要意义。系统开展PAHs及其衍生物代谢产物的时-量-效关系研究,明确PAHs及其衍生物的代谢产物类型及体内暴露水平,不仅有助于建立精准、高效、稳定的生物标志物谱库,还可为进一步开展人体生物监测提供科学依据和技术支撑。有鉴于此,本文系统梳理了母体PAHs及其硝基化、氧化和烷基化衍生物的主要代谢途径及产物类别,重点探讨了母体PAHs在人体内代谢转化的最新研究进展,旨在为揭示PAHs及其衍生物的暴露特征、健康风险评估和暴露溯源等研究提供科学参考。

关键词: 多环芳烃, 衍生物, 代谢, 生物标志物, 人体生物监测, 综述

Abstract:

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are organic compounds produced primarily through the incomplete combustion of coal, petroleum, and other carbon-based materials. These compounds are environmentally ubiquitous and have attracted widespread attention because they are significantly biologically toxic and have far-reaching implications for public health and societal wellbeing. Consequently, developing a comprehensive understanding of how PAHs and their derivatives metabolically biotransform in the human body is critical for devising precise preventive strategies and targeted health interventions. PAHs and their derivatives metabolically transform in vivo in a complex process involving a broad variety of enzymes and pathways, and are usually divided into three distinct phases. Phase I encompasses oxidative, reductive, and hydrolytic reactions that are primarily catalyzed by cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes. These processes produce intermediates such as monohydroxyls, diols, diol-epoxides, and quinones, some of which (e.g., diol-epoxides) form covalent DNA adducts, thereby contributing to their toxicities. Phase Ⅱ involves conjugation reactions, such as glucuronidation, sulfation, and glutathionylation, which enhance the water solubilities of the metabolites and facilitate their elimination. These detoxified metabolites are actively transported and excreted via bile or urine in phase Ⅲ, which effectively minimizes internal PAH exposure and prevents accumulation. Metabolites generated at various stages of PAH metabolism serve as crucial biomarkers for assessing human exposure levels. For example, urinary monohydroxy PAH metabolites (e.g., 1-hydroxypyrene) have been widely adopted as reliable biomarkers for characterizing PAH exposure. However, owing to their structural diversity, PAHs metabolize via considerably different mechanisms to afford a variety of products, which highlights the need to differentiate individual PAHs and their derivatives in order to precisely assess exposure and evaluate nuanced health risks. Understanding the time-dose-effect relationships of PAH metabolites provides another major PAH-biomonitoring challenge. Investigating these dynamics is essential for revealing the cumulative and long-term health effects associated with exposure to multiple PAHs and their derivatives. Moreover, such studies provide scientific bases for formulating personalized and refined health-protection strategies. For instance, exploring how individual susceptibility, such as genetic polymorphisms in CYP enzymes or conjugation pathways, affects PAH metabolism is expected to significantly improve risk stratification and targeted interventions. PAH exposure is associated with significant health risks because they are associated with a range of diseases, including lung, pancreatic, and gastrointestinal cancers, as well as respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. The pervasive environmental presence of PAHs further complicates exposure scenarios, necessitating the comprehensive monitoring of various populations and environmental contexts. In addition to individual exposure, population-scale studies are expected to inform public health policies and regulatory actions aimed at reducing PAH exposure, particularly in vulnerable populations. This review concisely summarizes the metabolic pathways and product categories associated with four types of PAHs: parent, nitroxylated, oxidized, and alkylated. It emphasizes recent advances in our understanding of parent PAH metabolism in humans, focusing on their implications for exposure characterization, health risk assessment, source tracing, and regulatory decision-making. This paper aims to provide a scientific foundation for the advancement of human biomonitoring efforts and the development of evidence-based public health interventions tailored to reduce the burden of PAH exposure by addressing the complexities of PAH metabolism.

Key words: polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), derivatives, metabolism, biomarkers, human biomonitoring, review

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