[Determination of 35 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in airborne suspended particulate by GC/MS].

OBJECTIVE: To establish capillary column GC/MS method for the determination of 35 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in airborne suspended particulate. METHODS: The air samples collected by an electrostatic particle collector were Soxhlet-extracted using 3:1 benzene/ethanol, and then subjected to the procedures of concentration and clean-up. Finally, the target PAHs were determined by the proposed method. RESULTS: All the target PAHs could be well separated except for benzo[b] fluoranthene, benzo[j] fluoranthene and benzo [k] fluoranthene through temperature programming. The relative standard deviations of the method were 1.8%-17.7% and the recoveries ranged from 93.4% to 101.9%. The absolute detection limit ranged from 0.0001 ng to 0.1 ng. CONCLUSION: The method is applicable to the determination of more than 30 PAHs in the airborne suspended particulate samples.

Mutagenicity of dog urine determined by blue rayon extraction and the ultramicro forward-mutation method.

The mutagenicity of 15 household dog urine specimens were measured by the combination of blue rayon extraction and ultramicro forward-mutation method with Salmonella Typhimurium TM677 strain. A good dose-response relation was observed between the urine volume and mutation frequency. The minimum amount of urine required was 20 ml or less. The specific mutation frequency of urine greatly varied from one dog to another. The average specific mutation frequencies in the presence and absence of S9 mix were 28.7 +/- 51.5 (x 10(-4)) and 12.0 +/- 13.3 (x 10(-4)), respectively, and there was no significant difference between them. The mutation frequency markedly increased after the ingestion of broiled fish. Ten human urines specimens showed a similar level of specific mutation frequency to that of the dog urine specimens in both the presence and absence of S9 mix.

[Study on size distribution of 8 polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons in airborne suspended particulates indoor and outdoor].

During Jan. 20-27, 1992, the size distribution of 8 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in airborne suspended particulates in Tokyo, Japan was studied. The results showed that PAHs, 79.0%-94.5% in indoor air and 65.4%-90.4% in outdoor air, were associated with aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 microns particles. The contents of these PAHs in indoor air were: pyrene (Py) 1.98, benzo (a) anthracene (BaA) 0.92, benzo (k) fluoranthene (BkF) 0.91, benzo (a) pyrene (BaP) 2.13, dibenzo (a,h) anthracene (dBahA) 0.30, benzo (b) chrysene (BbC) 0.15, benzo (g,h,i) perylene (BghiP) 2.56, dibenzo (a,e) pyrene (dBaeP) 0.23 ng/m3 and in outdoor air 3.93, 2.01, 1.41, 2.91, 0.40, 0.19, 3.65 and 0.30 ng/m3 respectively. The indoor/outdoor ratios for these PAHs ranged from 0.46 to 0.79. These PAHs contents were significantly correlative with one another and so were between the PAHs contents and the concentrations of airborne particulates both indoor and outdoor (the correlation coefficients ranged from 0.774 to 0.999). The PAHs contents (excluding Py) and the concentrations of airborne particulates between outdoor and indoor samples also correlated well with each other (correlation coefficients ranged from 0.821 to 0.944).

Ubiquitous presence of mutagenic and antimutagenic components in air-borne particulates of two Japanese cities.

Previous studies on several samples of urban air-borne particulates showed that the long-chain fatty acids present in these samples can interfere with the measurement of mutagenicity of the particulates with the Salmonella assay. To explore whether this phenomenon is a general, fatty acid contents and the mutagenicity (with Salmonella typhimurium TA98 without S9) were measured for 34 particulate samples collected in the cities of Okayama and Tokyo over a period of 1 year. Palmitic, stearic, oleic and linoleic acids were found in all these samples in this order of amount, and their interference on mutagenicity measurement was eminent, particularly at high doses of the sample. With the use of blue cotton extraction, the mutagenic components can be freed from most of these antimutagenic factors. Significant correlation was found between the number of particulates and the mutagenicity per unit volume of the air. Eight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon compounds, including benzo[alpha]pyrene were quantified for these 34 particulate samples. Their contents were too small to account for the observed mutagenicity, suggesting that other polycyclic compounds, possibly involving nitro aromatics, were responsible for the mutagenicity observed. No remarkable differences were noted between Okayama and Tokyo in fatty acid contents, mutagenicity or polycyclic aromatic-hydrocarbon contents of the samples.

Mutagenicity of wood smoke condensates in the Salmonella/microsome assay.

Smoke condensates of woods used for food preservation and aromatization in Nigeria were tested for mutagenic activity using Salmonella typhimurium TA98 and TA100. The woods were: white mangrove (Avicennia nitida), red mangrove (Rhizophora racemosa), mahogany Khaya sp.), abura (Mitragyna ciliata), alstonia (Alstonia boonei) and black afara (Terminalia ivorensis). Cigarette tar was tested for comparison. The condensates induced dose-dependent increases in the number of His+ revertants mainly with S9 mix. With the exception of mahogany and cigarette smoke condensate, the smoke condensates induced more revertants/microgram condensate in TA100 than in TA98. The number of revertants/microgram condensate ranged between 0.04 and 0.9 for the wood smoke condensates and was 0.12 for the cigarette smoke in TA100. The range was between 0.1 and 0.30 for the wood smoke condensates and 0.18 revertants/microgram condensate for cigarette smoke condensate in TA98. Concentrations of 7 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the condensates were determined namely, pyrene, benzo[a]pyrene, benz[a]anthracene, benzo[k]fluoranthene, benzo[b]chrysene, benzo[g,h,i]perylene and dibenzo[a,e]pyrene. The condensates contained varying concentrations of the individual PAHs and those with higher concentrations generally showed greater mutagenic activities. However, the order of mutagenic potency in the bacterial strains differed from the order of PAH concentrations, which were lower than the concentrations at which they are reported to induce mutations. When 6 of the PAHs were mixed in the concentrations in which they were found in the individual condensates, the mixtures did not induce mutation so that the contribution of the PAHs to the mutagenic activities of the condensates could not be determined.

[Determination of free silica in airborne dust by phosphoric acid method].

Free silica content in airborne dust was measured with a modified procedure collecting sample dust on glass fiber filter and heating the dust together with the filter in phosphoric acid. The insoluble phosphoric acid residue of the glass fiber filter used by us was of small amount. Fifteen mg of dust was enough to determine its free silica content correctly. On dust collected at pottery and foundries works, satisfactory coincidence was found between the values of free silica content by our procedure and by X-ray diffraction. It can be concluded that this is a reliable method for determination of free silica content of airborne dust as well as of deposited one.

[Testicular atrophy of mice induced by ethylene glycol mono alkyl ethers (author's transl)].

Toxicities of ethylene glycol (EG) and 6 ethylene glycol mono alkyl ethers administered orally were studied. Mice were given various doses (62.5, 125, 250, 500, 1,000, 2,000 and 4,000 mg/kg body weight) of the compounds daily for 5 days/week, for 5 weeks. High doses of ethylene glycol mono methyl ether (EGM), ethylene glycol mono methyl ether acetate (EGMA), ethylene glycol mono ethyl ether (EGE) and ethylene glycol mono ethyl acetate (EGEA) produced marked testicular atrophy and leucopenia. Dose-responce relation was found in these effects. EGM was more effective than EGE, while ethylene glycol mono butyl ether and ethylene glycol mono phenyl ether had but slight effect and EG had no detectable action on testis and leucocytes. Toxic doses being expressed as mg/kg body weight, esterification seemed to weaken the atrophic action of EGM and EGE, but when expressed as mol/kg, significant difference was found neither between EGM and EGMA nor between EGE and EGEA. The mechanism of testicular atrophy induced by low ethylene glycol mono alkyl ethers is likely to be an inhibitory action on cell division.