Investigation of drug use and exposure to polymer-related chemicals by wastewater and urine analysis

Abstract

The aim of this thesis was to characterize exposure biomarkers and to determine the human exposure to polymer-related chemicals and drugs of abuse. Three different types of experiments were considered: in-vitro human liver metabolism studies, human biomonitoring through urine analysis, and wastewater-based epidemiology. In-vitro metabolism studies recreated the human body processes to identify potential exposure biomarkers of rubber-related chemicals. Human biomonitoring provided reliable stratified-population data and its relationship with human exposure to bisphenols. Finally, wastewater-based epidemiology allowed to monitor the use of drug of abuse and exposure to bisphenols and plasticizers. This thesis comprised Spanish and Portuguese samples and was driven by liquid chromatography hyphenated to (tandem) mass spectrometry.