Project 2: Exposure Assessment of Macondo Oil Spill in Affected Communities

DWH石油泄漏被认为对沿海社区的人类健康构成威胁。我们的项目将通过测量人类血清中岩源性多环芳烃（PAHs）的浓度及其来源，即他们食用的受污染的海鲜，来检查这种风险。本项目计划的补充建模实验将提供食用受污染海产品的预测暴露风险。因此，我们将确定具有不同生活史和代谢能力的不同海洋物种的岩源多环芳烃的体负荷特征。在海洋动物中发现的多环芳烃的特征将在食用受石油污染海产品的渔业社区的个人身上进行测量。由此获得的数据将用于迁移行为和食物网转移的计算建模，以预测人类持续暴露的风险。为了确定海洋动物体内多环芳烃的水平及其长期暴露于食物链污染物对人类健康的影响，我们提出以下三个具体目标：海洋动物暴露的生物标志物：采用气相色谱-质谱（GC-MS）方法确定来自BP墨西哥湾漏油影响地区的鱼、虾、蟹和牡蛎中DWH产岩多环芳烃的负担，为DWH油暴露提供碳氢化合物特征。具体目标2。人类暴露生物标志物：为了评估人类对DWH油的暴露，我们将使用GC-MS分析从合作社区的个人收集的人类血清样本中，根据Aim1在海洋生物中发现的最普遍的碳氢化合物（碳氢化合物特征）。具体目标3。反向暴露建模：从目标1和目标2中获得的数据将用于目标（暴露）物种的海洋食物网的反向模型，以确定受影响社区接触DWH油的风险。这些模型将结合生物的自然历史、污染物的进化条件和分布以及两者在生物及其猎物的生命周期中的共同分布的已知信息。

The DWH oil spill is perceived to be a risk to human health in coastal communities. This risk will be examined in our project by measuring the concentration of petrogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in human serum and its source, the contaminated seafood that they consume. Complementary modeling experiments planned in this project will provide the predictive exposure risks from consuming tainted seafood. Therefore, we will determine the body burden signature of petrogenic PAHs in various marine species with different life histories and metabolic capacities. The signature of PAHs identified in marine animals will be measured in individuals in the fishing communities consuming oil-tainted seafood. The data thus obtained will be utilized in computational modeling of migratory behavior and food web transfers to predict the risk of persistent human exposure. To establish levels of PAHs in marine animals and their impact on human health from long-term exposure to food chain contaminants, we propose the following three specific aims: Specific Aim 1. Biomarkers of Exposure in Marine Animals: To determine the burden of DWH petrogenic PAHs in fishes, shrimps, crabs and oysters collected from various BP Gulf oil spill affected areas using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS)-based approach to provide hydrocarbon signature for DWH oil exposure. Specific Aim 2. Biomarker of Exposure in Humans: To assess human exposure to DWH oil, the most prevalent hydrocarbons identified in marine life (hydrocarbon signature) under Aim1 will be analyzed in human serum samples collected from individuals in our partner communities using GC-MS. Specific Aim 3. Inverse Exposure Modeling: Data obtained from Aims 1 and 2 will be utilized in inverse models of marine food webs of target (exposed) species to determine the risk of exposure of DWH oil to affected communities. The models will combine known information of the natural history of the organisms, the evolving condition and distribution of the contaminants and the co-distribution of the two over the life span of the organisms and their prey. This study will be conducted by an experienced team of scientists from UTMB and Texas A&M University at Galveston to provide collective information about the oil exposure of at-risk populations in a true interdisciplinary fashion. This research will be based on current human exposure data as well as future exposure risks. Our project is developed using substantial community input and will provide the necessary data to confirm exposure to DWH PAHs for various stressor analysis in Project 1 and contribute vitally to Projects 3 (PAH extracts) and 4 (exposure data) to obtain the correlations between exposure and biomarkers of stress and toxicity including early and intermediate markers of diseases (ie. cancer).