Digestion Mechanism of Polychlorinated Biphenyls in Gastrointestinal Tract Using In Vitro Test

A static in vitro digestion model simulating human gastrointestinal tract was used to investigate digestion mechanism of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in food during digestion. The results showed that the release process of PCBs from food matrix conformed by the pseudo-second-order kinetic model at non-equilibrium condition and reached equilibrium after 2h in small intestine, while the adsorption and release processes at equilibrium were follow Langmuir isotherm equation (R² > 0.99). The study results also demonstrated that the relationship between the released PCBs and their levels in food is a partitioning-based model, and has nothing to do with their contamination levels. The present study provides basic information for advanced in vitro and in vivo studies on the mechanism or uptake of PCBs or other chemicals in human body.