In Vitro Inhalation Bioaccessibility of Phthalate Esters and Alternative Plasticizers Present in Indoor Dust Using Artificial Lung Fluids

Abstract

Phthalate esters (PEs) are plasticiser additives imparting durability, elasticity and flexibility to consumer products. The low migration stability of PEs along with their ubiquitous character and adverse health effects to humans and especially children has resulted in their classification as major indoor contaminants. This study assesses inhalation exposure to PEs via indoor dust using an in vitro inhalation bioaccessibility test (i.e. uptake) for of dimethyl phthalate (DMP), diethyl phthalate (DEP) and di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) and the alternative non phthalate plasticisers bis(2-ethylhexyl) terephthalate (DEHT) and cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylic acid diisononyl ester (DINCH), exposure. Using artificial lung fluids, which mimicktwo distinctively different pulmonary environments, namely artificial lysosomal fluid (ALF, pH = 4.5) representing the fluid that inhaled particles would contact after phagocytosis by alveolar and interstitial macrophages within the lung and Gamble's solution (pH = 7.4), the fluid for deep dust deposition within the pulmonary environment. Low molecular weight (MW) PEs such as DMP and DEP were highly bioaccessible (> 75 %) in both artificial pulmonary media, whereas highly hydrophobic compounds such as DEHP, DINCH and DEHT were < 5 % bioaccessible via the lung. Our findings show that the in vitro pulmonary uptake of PEs is primarily governed by their hydrophobicity and water solubility, highlighting thus the need for the establishment of a unified and biologically relevant inhalation bioaccessibility test format, employed within the risk assessment framework for volatile and semi-volatile organic pollutants.

Effects of carbonaceous materials and particle size on oral and inhalation bioaccessibility of PAHs and OPEs in airborne particles

“…In the present study, the result indicated the effects of OC and EC on bioaccessibility in lung uid depend on these physicochemical properties, differing from that for oral bioaccessibility (emission source dependent). Similar correlation was also found for the inhalation bioaccessibility of phthalate esters in house dust as shown in a recent study (Kademoglou et al 2018). Signi cant associations with OC and EC were also found for the hydrophobic OPEs (Table 1).…”

“…Liu et al (2019) recently observed considerably low bioaccessibility (< 0.75%) of PAHs in biochar. Inhalation bioaccessibility of phthalate esters in house dust (Kademoglou et al 2018) was similar to that for OPEs in this study.…”

“…There is a growing interest in bioaccessibility of environmental contaminants due to the growing awareness of its importance for risk assessment calculation (Cui et al 2016;Gao et al 2019;He et al 2016). The physicochemical properties (e.g., hydrophobicity) of a HOC is a pivotal factor controlling its bioaccessibility (Kademoglou et al 2018;Wang et al 2013b). For a speci c HOC, the nature of the matrix and its a nity for this compound may play a signi cant role in the bioaccessibility.…”

In vitro and in vivo assessment of a CLD sequestration strategy in Nitisol using contrasted carbonaceous materials

“…Considering in vitro assays numerous published protocols demonstrated their ability to predict in vivo results for trace metals (ANSES, 2019). However, most of these frequently used methodologies minimize bioavailability of lipophilic POPs (Kademoglou et al, 2018;Li et al, 2016), and solubilization of these hydrophobic POPs was pointed out as one of the most limiting step (ANSES, 2019;Collins et al, 2013;Kademoglou et al, 2018;Li et al, 2016). In this frame, novel methodologies implement sorptive phases to enhance the solubilization and mobilization of POPs also reproducing the on-going absorption during the intestinal phase.…”

Oral bioavailability reveals an overestimation of the toxicity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in atmospheric particulate matter

“…However, in vitro oral bioaccessibility studies of organic pollutants in particulate matter were not found in the literature, while there were some studies applied to indoor/outdoor dust and soils for organic compounds, i.e. PAHs (Tang et al 2006;Kang et al 2011;Collins et al 2013;Li et al 2015;Kademoglou et al 2018a), organophosphate flame retardants (Quintana et al 2017), semi-volatile organic compounds (Raffy et al 2018), polychlorinated biphenyls (Wang et al 2013) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (Yu et al 2011;Kademoglou et al 2018b;Gao et al 2019b). The stringent analytical requirements (target pollutants enrichment, due to the low levels; and pollutant isolation from the synthetic fluids matrix) for organic pollutant quantification in bioaccessible/bioavailable fractions might explain the scare information.…”