An acellular assay to assess the genotoxicity of complex mixtures of organic pollutants bound on size segregated aerosol. Part I: DNA adducts
Abstract
An acellular assay used to study the genotoxicity of complex mixtures of organic air pollutants bound to size segregated aerosols by means of DNA adduct analysis. We compared the genotoxicity of EOMs from three size fractions of aerosol ranging from 0.17 to 10 um that were collected in four localities of the Czech Republic differing in the environmental pollution.
The main finding was most of the observed genotoxicity was connected with a fine particulate matter fraction (<1 um). The concentrations of carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (c-PAHs) in EOM5 indicate that fine fractions (0.5-1 um) bound the highest amount of c-PAHs in all aerosol sampling sites.
As for aerosol mass, both fine and condensational fractions are effective carriers of c-PAHs. The DNA adduct levels per m(3) of air were highest for the fine fraction.
A correlation was found between the c-PAHs and DNA adduct levels induced by EOMs in all the localities and for various size fractions (R-2 = 0.98, p <0.001).