Personal Exposure and Dose of Inhaled Ambient Particulate Matter Bound Metals in Five European Cities

Abstract

The objective of the current study is the determination of the personal exposure and dose of ambient particulate matterbound metals in human tissues at five European cities. The accumulation in human body of lead (Pb), arsenic (As) and cadmium (Cd), in five European cities (Athens, Seville, Rome, Frankfurt and Zabrze) was calculated using an exposure and dose assessment model, ExDoM, and a pharmacokinetic model, PBPK. The study subjects are adult Caucasian nonsmoker males. It was calculated that the highest dose of particulate matter is received from a resident of Seville, due to the higher ambient PM 10 levels in the city compared to the other sites. First, the current study showed that the European Union thresholds of particle-bound Pb, Cd and As concentrations were not exceeded in the cities under study. As regard the dose of Pb and As the higher dose is calculated for Athens and Seville, respectively. The highest dose of Cd is found at Zabrze, due to the high industrial activity in the city. It was calculated that after one day of exposure, the highest accumulation of Pb occurred in blood, muscles and bones. Furthermore, the highest deposition of Cd occurred in the lungs and intestines and for As in the lung and muscles. The heavy metals intake, calculated in this study, was very low in comparison with the recommended WHO levels for heavy metals intake from all types of exposure (inhalation, ingestion).

Toxicant Deposition and Transport in Alveolus: A Classical Density Functional Prediction

“…The well depth ranges from 0.55 to 12.72 kJ/mol, indicating that the pulmonary surfactant has different adsorption strength for the nine toxicants. PbO, As 2 O 3 , and CdO appear to be the top three favorable toxicants by pulmonary surfactant, which is consistent with Mammi-Galani’s survey data in which the deposition of Pb, As, and Cd in the lung are the highest, with the content reaching 0.2319 μg, 0.0076 μg, and 0.0031 μg, respectively . All the free energy barriers were located at z = 0.4–0.6 nm, which is in the headgroup layer.…”

“…PbO, As 2 O 3 , and CdO appear to be the top three favorable toxicants by pulmonary surfactant, which is consistent with Mammi-Galani's survey data in which the deposition of Pb, As, and Cd in the lung are the highest, with the content reaching 0.2319 μg, 0.0076 μg, and 0.0031 μg, respectively. 42 All the free energy barriers were located at z = 0.4−0.6 nm, which is in the headgroup layer. This result implies the toxicants were attracted by the headgroup due to its deep well depth (ε = 4.50 kJ/mol).…”

Estimation of the Personal Deposited Dose of Particulate Matter and Particle-Bound Metals Using Data from Selected European Cities

“…Higher dose of As is received in the lung region due to the moderate absorption of As particles to blood based on ICRP and lung's larger tissue/blood partition coefficient compared to other tissues (except liver). The elevated dose in muscles is due to high blood flow during light activity while the high dose in liver is due to the larger tissue/blood partition coefficient in comparison with other organs [59][60][61][62]99]. In particular, greater tissue/blood partition coefficient means greater retention of metals in organs [47,99].…”

“…The elevated dose in muscles is due to high blood flow during light activity while the high dose in liver is due to the larger tissue/blood partition coefficient in comparison with other organs [59][60][61][62]99]. In particular, greater tissue/blood partition coefficient means greater retention of metals in organs [47,99]. However, tissues with a high blood flow (e.g., muscle during light activity) can receive high dose of metals even though the tissue/blood partition coefficient is lower in comparison with other organs [47].…”

Hospital admission of exposure to air pollution in Ahvaz megacity during 2010–2013

“…Based on the result of different studies the main sources of emission and generation of criteria air pollutants in megacities are industries, economic development, domestic fuel burning, urbanization, transportation and vehicles. [32][33][34][35][36][37] According to the result of several studies, the most important symptoms of criteria air pollutants increases hospital admission rates increase, coughing, reduced lung function, respiratory infections, coughing, asthma attacks, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, eye irritation, increased respiratory and cardiovascular disease, heart stroke, respiratory and cardiovascular death in people region inhalation. Dockery et al studied the relationship between exposure to criteria air pollutants and health endpoint.…”