HRMS screening of organophosphate flame retardants and poly-/perfluorinated substances in dust from cars and trucks: Occurrence and human exposure implications

Supramolecular solvent extraction of drugs and pharmaceuticals in indoor dust from public buildings

Recent research has confirmed the presence of drugs of abuse and pharmaceuticals in indoor dust, indicating a significant route of exposure to these compounds. This information is still limited which highlights the need for further quantitative research to estimate the human exposure, potential health risks and sources of contamination. This study aims to validate a simple and fast method for the analysis of these substances using supramolecular solvents (SUPRAS) followed by liquid chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS). With this method we quantified drugs of abuse and pharmaceuticals and estimated the daily exposure by dust ingestion in various workplaces (43 samples from bars and restaurants, pharmacies, educational buildings, social buildings, and other types of buildings from Spain). Ten pharmaceuticals, eleven drugs of abuse and related compounds, and two stimulants (nicotine and caffeine) were found at concentrations ranging from 0.015 to 17.5 μg ·g-1 (detection frequency, DF: 2.2-100 %), from 0.011 to 10.7 μg ·g-1 (DF: 2.2-97.8 %), and from 0.35 to 5397 μg ·g-1 (DF: 97.8-100 %), respectively. The mean exposure via dust intake (adults, 30 mg·day-1) was 0.17-0.37 ng·kg bw-1·day-1 for pharmaceuticals, 0.036-0.42 ng·kg bw-1·day-1 for drugs, and 3.39-150.21 ng·kg bw-1·day-1 for stimulants. Based on these results, future studies should consider dust as an additional source of drug and pharmaceutical exposure to estimate real health risks.

Comparison of indoor and outdoor atmospheric organophosphorus flame retardants (OPFRs) from the petrochemical industrial area in North China: Occurrence, gas-PM2.5 distribution, source appointment and health implications

The consumption of organophosphorus flame retardants (OPFRs) has surged significantly recent years since global banning of brominated flame retardants (BFRs). Industrial activity is an important source of OPFRs, however there are few studies on OPFRs contamination in the indoor and outdoor atmosphere of industrial areas. A study was conducted to analyze contamination of 15 OPFRs individuals in both indoor and outdoor air and PM2.5 of living and industrial sites of the petrochemical industrial area (outdoor and indoor sites of living area was LO and LI, outdoor and indoor sites of industrial area was IO and II). The average concentrations of OPFRs in PM2.5 of LO (16.40 ng/m3) and IO (17.83 ng/m3) were similar, while LI (60.46 ng/m3) was higher than that in II (33.43 ng/m3). The average concentrations of indoor OPFR in PM2.5 and air in summer were 4.10 and 2.22 times higher than those in winter, respectively. This seasonal concentration variation of OPFRs may attribute to the influence of temperature that accelerated the releasing of OPFRs from materials. Source apportionment results indicated that the indoor source (material emission) was the dominant contributor of indoor OPFRs in PM2.5 and air, and outdoor sources (industrial and traffic sources) had significant contribution to OPFRs in indoor and outdoor air and outdoor PM2.5. The gas-particle partitioning of OPFRs had not reached equilibrium state. The KOA absorption model has better fitting effect for OPFRs with logKOA > 10. The health risk of OPFRs for both adult and child was neglectable. While considering the high contribution of TCEP to carcinogenic risk, and high contribution of TCPP to none-carcinogenic risk, their health risk should be given special attention.

Organophosphate Esters and Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers in Vehicle Dust: Concentrations, Sources, and Health Risk Assessment

BACKGROUND

The primary flame retardants in vehicles, organophosphates (OPEs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), volatilize and accumulate in the enclosed vehicle environment, posing potential health risks. Amidst the rising number of vehicles, the scrutiny of persistent organic pollutants like OPEs and PBDEs in vehicles is increasing. This study investigates occupational and nonoccupational population exposure to specific OPEs (TnBP, TBOEP, TEHP, TCEP, TCiPP, TDCiPP, TPhP, EHDPP) and PBDEs (BDE-28, BDE-47, BDE-99, BDE-100, BDE-153, BDE-154, BDE-183, BDE-209) in vehicle dust.

METHODS

Data on OPEs and PBDEs in vehicle dust were sourced from PubMed and Web of Science. We applied PCA and PMF to identify pollutant sources and assessed health risks using the hazard index (HI) and carcinogenic risk (CR) methods. Monte Carlo simulations were conducted for uncertainty analysis, evaluating variable contributions to the results.

RESULTS

The predominant OPE in dust samples was TDCiPP (mean value: 4.34 × 104 ng g-1), and the main PBDE was BDE-209 (mean value: 1.52 × 104 ng g-1). Potential sources of OPEs in vehicle dust include polyvinyl chloride (PVC) upholstery, polyurethane foam (PUF) seats, electronics, carpet wear, hydraulic oil, and plastic wear in the brake system. PBDE sources likely include automotive parts, PVC upholstery, seats, carpets, and electronics. The 90th percentile HI and CR values for occupational and nonoccupational populations exposed to OPEs and PBDEs indicate that the noncarcinogenic and carcinogenic risks are relatively low. A sensitivity analysis showed that the pollutant concentration, time in the vehicle, exposure frequency, and duration significantly influence health risks.

CONCLUSIONS

The health risks to both occupational and nonoccupational populations from exposure to OPEs and PBDEs in vehicle dust are relatively low.

Association of co-exposure to organophosphate esters and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and mixture with cardiovascular-kidney-liver-metabolic biomarkers among Chinese adults

BACKGROUND

Organophosphate esters (OPEs) and Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are ubiquitous environmental contaminants with common exposure sources, leading to their widespread presence in human body. However, evidence on co-exposure to OPEs and PFAS and its impact on cardiovascular-kidney-liver-metabolic biomarkers remains limited.

METHODS

In this cross-sectional study, 467 adults were enrolled from January to May 2022 during physical visits in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province. Eleven types of OPEs and twelves types of PFAS were detected, among which eight OPEs and six PFAS contaminants were detected in more than 60% of plasma samples. Seventeen biomarkers were assessed to comprehensively evaluate the cardiovascular-kidney-liver-metabolic function. Multiple linear regression, multipollutant models with sparse partial least squares, and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) models were applied to examine the associations of individual OPEs and PFAS and their mixtures with organ function and metabolism, respectively.

RESULTS

Of the over 400 exposure-outcome associations tested when modelling, we observed robust results across three models that perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxS) was significantly positively associated with alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), total bilirubin (TBIL), and indirect bilirubin (IBIL). Perfluorononanoic acid was significantly associated with decreased AST/ALT and increased very-low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. Besides, perfluorodecanoic acid was correlated with increased high lipoprotein cholesterol and perfluoroundecanoic acid was consistently associated with lower glucose level. BKMR analysis showed that OPEs and PFAS mixtures were positively associated with IBIL and TBIL, among which PFHxS was the main toxic chemicals.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest that exposure to OPEs and PFAS, especially PFHxS and PFNA, may disrupt organ function and metabolism in the general population, providing insight into the potential pathophysiological mechanisms of OPEs and PFAS co-exposure and chronic diseases.

Exploring applications of non-targeted analysis in the characterization of the prenatal exposome

Capturing the breadth of chemical exposures in utero is critical in understanding their long-term health effects for mother and child. We explored methodological adaptations in a Non-Targeted Analysis (NTA) pipeline and evaluated the effects on chemical annotation and discovery for maternal and infant exposure. We focus on lesser-known/underreported chemicals in maternal and umbilical cord serum analyzed with liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-QTOF/MS). The samples were collected from a demographically diverse cohort of 296 maternal-cord pairs (n = 592) recruited in San Francisco Bay area. We developed and evaluated two data processing pipelines, primarily differing by detection frequency cut-off, to extract chemical features from non-targeted analysis (NTA). We annotated the detected chemical features by matching with EPA CompTox Chemicals Dashboard (n = 860,000 chemicals) and Human Metabolome Database (n = 3140 chemicals) and applied a Kendrick Mass Defect filter to detect homologous series. We collected fragmentation spectra (MS/MS) on a subset of serum samples and matched to an experimental MS/MS database within the MS-Dial website and other experimental MS/MS spectra collected from standards in our lab. We annotated ~72 % of the features (total features = 32,197, levels 1-4). We confirmed 22 compounds with analytical standards, tentatively identified 88 compounds with MS/MS spectra, and annotated 4862 exogenous chemicals with an in-house developed annotation algorithm. We detected 36 chemicals that appear to not have been previously reported in human blood and 9 chemicals that were reported in less than five studies. Our findings underline the importance of NTA in the discovery of lesser-known/unreported chemicals important to characterize human exposures.