Effect of home cooking processes on chlordecone content in beef and investigation of its by-products and metabolites by HPLC-HRMS/MS

Chlordecone-induced hepatotoxicity and fibrosis are mediated by the proteasomal degradation of septins

Chlordecone (CLD) is a pesticide persisting in soils and contaminating food webs. CLD is sequestered in the liver and poorly metabolized into chlordecol (CLDOH). In vitro liver cell models were used to investigate the fate and mechanistic effects of CLD and CLDOH using multiomics. A 3D-cell model was used to investigate whether CLD and CLDOH can affect susceptibility to the metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). Hepatocytes were more sensitive to CLD than CLDOH. CLDOH was intensively metabolized into a glucuronide conjugate, whereas CLD was sequestered. CLD but not CLDOH induced a depletion of Septin-2,- 7,- 9,- 10,- 11 due to proteasomal degradation. Septin binding with CLD and CLDOH was confirmed by surface plasmon resonance. CLD disrupted lipid droplet size and increased saturated long-chain dicarboxylic acid production by inhibiting stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD) abundance. Neither CLD nor CLDOH induced steatosis, but CLD induced fibrosis in the 3D model of MASLD. To conclude, CLD hepatoxicity is specifically driven by the degradation of septins. CLDOH, was too rapidly metabolized to induce septin degradation. We show that the conversion of CLD to CLDOH reduced hepatotoxicity and fibrosis in liver organoids. This suggests that protective strategies could be explored to reduce the hepatotoxicity of CLD.

Fate of chlordecone during home cooking processes - Transfer into the liquid and aerial phases by conventional thermal processes

This study focuses on the fate of chlordecone (CLD) during cooking processes. Neat CLD was subjected to thermogravimetric analysis, which revealed that the vast majority of the compound (79 %) was vaporised at temperatures between 55 and 245 °C. In order to monitor the behaviour of CLD during cooking processes, a QuEChERS extraction protocol was optimised for vegetable cooking oil and a heating kinetics experiment was conducted at 195 °C on CLD-spiked cooking oil. The results showed a strong decrease in CLD over time and, for the first time to our knowledge, transformation of CLD into chlordecol. Finally, a comparison was conducted between the cooking of uncured pork with and without vegetable oil. The use of vegetable oil led to a significant decrease in CLD content, but revealed that a fraction of the CLD transferred into the cooking oil. This study provides data that shed light on the fate of CLD during cooking.

Microwave-enhanced thermal removal of organochlorine pesticide (chlordecone) from contaminated soils

Soil contamination with chlordecone, an organochlorine pesticide, is causing serious health problems, affecting crop production and local livestock valorization in the French West Indies. In-situ chemical reduction (ISCR) processes for soil remediation have shown promise but need improvement in terms of time, cost and effective treatment, particularly for andosol soil types. Our study shows that a 10-min microwave treatment significantly reduces chlordecone concentrations (50-90%) in contaminated andosol and nitisol soils. Dry andosol soils show the highest removal yields and reach a higher final temperature (350 °C). Microwave treatment is in all cases more effective or at least as effective as 60 min of conventional heating at a target temperature of 200 °C. The thermal response of andosol and nitisol to microwave exposure is different, as the former is likely to undergo thermal runaway, reaching high temperatures in a short time, resulting in highly efficient thermal removal of chlordecone. These results encourage further scale-up, particularly for the treatment of andosol soils due to their strong microwave response.

The Impact of Various Types of Cooking on the Fate of Hg and Se in Predatory Fish Species

This study addresses the effect of various cooking approaches on total Hg (HgT) and total Se (SeT) contents in three predatory fish species. For this purpose, samples of swordfish, dogfish, and tuna from regular French (fish) markets were cooked by boiling, steaming, grilling, and frying, respectively. The levels of HgT and SeT in raw and cooked samples were determined by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. The data showed a significant increase in HgT and SeT levels between raw and cooked samples (33% of the samples for SeT and 67% for HgT) due to the water loss during the cooking. High intra-species variation related to HgT and SeT levels was found. Considering the level of exposure to HgT through fish consumption and taking also into account the possible protective effect of Se (expressed here via the Se/Hg molar ratio), the safest cooking approach corresponds to grilled swordfish, fried tuna, and steamed dogfish, which show Se/Hg molar ratios of (1.0 ± 0.5), (4.3 ± 4.2), and (1.0 ± 0.6), respectively.

The invasive crayfish Cherax quadricarinatus facing chlordecone in Martinique: Bioaccumulation and depuration study

The redclaw crayfish, Cherax quadricarinatus, was introduced to Martinique Island for aquaculture purposes at the beginning of the 21st century, in an attempt to revitalize the freshwater crustacean aquaculture sector. Mainly due to its high economical value, it was intentionally released in the wild and was caught and sold by fishermen. Martinican rivers are polluted by chlordecone, considered as one of the worst Persistant Organic Pollutants (POP). Despite its dangerousness, it was used until 1993 in the French West Indies against a banana pest and was always found in the ecosystems. This study aimed to investigate the level of contamination in the muscle of crayfish caught in the wild, as well as the potential of bioconcentration and depuration in the C. quadricarinatus muscle. This study could allow us to quantify the risk for consumers but also, to evaluate a depuration process to reduce the risk related to its consumption. Using both in-vitro and in-situ experiments, results highlighted the importance of the chlordecone concentration in the water and the time of exposure to the pollutant. The bioconcentration seems to be very quick and continuous in crayfish muscle, as chlordecone can be detectable as early as 6 h of exposure, whatever the concentration tested. Finally, it appears that, even after 20 days of depuration in chlordecone-free water, chlordecone concentrations remained higher to the residual maximum limit (i.e. 20 ng/g wet weight), concluding that the decontamination of the muscle seems not very efficient, and the risk for the Martinican people could be serious.

Correlation between endemic chlordecone concentrations in three bovine tissues determined by isotopic dilution liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Chlordecone (CLD) is an organochlorine pesticide widely used from the 1970s to the 1990s in the French West Indies that induced long-term pollution of the ecosystem. Due to involuntary soil ingestion, some species bred in open-air areas can be contaminated. As CLD is distributed in various tissues depending on the breeding species, this study focuses on the distribution of CLD in bovines. For this purpose, three tissues, i.e. fat, muscle, and liver, from 200 bovines originating from Martinique and Guadeloupe were sampled in 2016 to determine their endemic contamination levels. Analyses were performed with the official method for veterinary controls, isotopic dilution liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, which has been fully validated and which reaches a limit of quantification of 3 μg.kg^-1 fresh weight (fw). Irrespective of the matrices, CLD was detected in 68% of samples (404 samples above the LOD) and quantified in 59% of samples (332 samples above the LOQ). Regarding contamination levels, the liver had a broader range of concentrations (LOQ up to 420.6 μg.kg^-1 fw) than fat (LOQ up to 124.6 μg.kg^-1 fw) and muscle (LOQ up to 67.6 μg.kg^-1 fw). This confirms the atypical behaviour of CLD compared to other persistent organochlorine pollutants. Statistical processing demonstrated a correlation between CLD concentrations among the three studied tissues. The CLD concentration ratios were 0.54 for muscle/fat, 3.75 for liver/fat, and 0.14 for muscle/liver.