Biodegradation of Linear Alkylbenzene sulfonate-Anthracene Mixture by a Microbial Consortium isolated from Sediment

Linear alkylbenzene sulfonate and anthracene are chemical compounds which form pollutant mixtures with high toxic potential, causing damage to ecosystems. The process known as biodegradation is an effective, low-cost process carried out by microbial populations that reduces the toxic effect of linear alkylbenzene sulfonate and anthracene. In the present study, biodegradation was determined at different concentrations of linear alkylbenzene sulfonate, anthracene and the mixture of both compounds. The resulting reduction in toxicity produced by the mixture, the compounds separately and their biodegradation intermediaries was assessed using a microbial model. The ISO 9439 system was used to assess the biodegradation effect of a microbial consortium isolated from polluted sediment on 5, 10 and 20 mg/l of linear alkylbenzene sulfonate and the same concentrations of anthracene. Toxicity was determined by measuring inhibition of Bacillus cereus dehydrogenase activity produced by 0.25 ml aliquots of the linear alkylbenzene sulfonate, anthracene and the mixture of both compounds before and after they had been subjected to the biodegradation test. After 11 days, the linear alkylbenzene sulfonate -anthracene mixture was biodegraded to a greater degree than the compounds individually (3057.36 μmol CO2), but at a concentration of 20 mg/l of both compounds, a marked inhibition of biodegradation was observed. A reduction in toxicity produced by the biodegradation of linear alkylbenzene sulfonate and its mixture with anthracene at 5 and 10 mg/l respectively was observed.

Comprehensive Assessment of Local Population Chemical Exposome by Combination of Organic Pollutant- and Metal-Multi-Residue Analysis in Hair

Awareness of the adverse effects of exposure to pollutant mixtures, possibly much more severe than individual chemicals, has drawn attention towards the necessity of using multi-residue methods to obtain the most possible comprehensive information on exposome. Among the different biological matrices used for exposure assessment, hair enables to detect the largest number of chemicals, including many classes such as persistent pollutants, hydrophilic metabolites and metals. Most biomonitoring studies are however focused on a limited number of pollutants and only give a partial information on exposure. Combining several multi-residue methods, the present study aimed at assessing the exposure of a population to an extensive variety of chemicals by hair analysis. One hair sample was collected from each participant (55 children and 134 adults). Samples were analysed with three different multi-residue methods, targeting, respectively, 152 organic pollutants (pesticides, PCBs, bisphenols, PBDEs), 62 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and metabolites, nicotine and cotinine and 36 metals. From 33 to 70 organic chemicals were detected in each child’s hair sample, and from 34 up to 74 in adults. From 7 to 26 PAH were detected per child, and 7 to 21 in adults. Twenty-three to 27 metals were detected per child and 21 to 28 per adult. The highest median concentration were observed for zinc (143 μg /mg in children; 164 μg /mg in adults), bisphenol A (95.9 pg/mg in children; 64.7 pg/mg in adults) and nicotine (66.4 pg/mg in children; 51.9 pg/mg in adults). The present study provides the most comprehensive exposure assessment ever and highlights the simultaneous exposure to multiple classes of pollutants in the general population. The results support the use of multi-residue methods for future studies on exposure-associated effects, to document exposome and better consider the effect of chemical mixtures.

Experimental Validation of a Novel Generator of Gas Mixtures Based on Axial Gas Pulses Coupled to a Micromixer

In this work, a novel generator of gas mixtures previously numerically investigated and based on axial gas pulses coupled to a micromixer has been conceived, manufactured, and validated. Standard gaseous pollutant mixtures and pure nitrogen or pure air were introduced in a microdevice designed to generate alternating axial gas pulses which were downstream homogenized by means of a multi-stage modular micromixer. The dilution, and therefore the final pollutant concentration, was controlled by two parameters: the ratio between the times of each of the two gas pulses and the partial pressure of the pollutant(s) mixture added to the device. The gas mixture generator was coupled to an analyzer to monitor the concentration of aromatic pollutants. The response time was optimized to be lower than 2 min in accordance with the analytical instrument. The quantity of pollutants measured at the micromixer’s outlet increased linearly with the expected gas concentration of 3.7–100 ppb generated by this novel microfluidic generator and fitted perfectly with those obtained by a reference gas dilution bench. At 5 ppb, the precision on the concentration generated is close to that obtained with the conventional gas mixing bench, i.e., around 10%.

Chemometric Study of the Correlation between Human Exposure to Benzene and PAHs and Urinary Excretion of Oxidative Stress Biomarkers

Urban air contains benzene and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) which have carcinogenic properties. The objective of this paper is to study the correlation of exposure biomarkers with biomarkers of nucleic acid oxidation also considering smoking. In 322 subjects, seven urinary dose biomarkers were analyzed for benzene, pyrene, nitropyrene, benzo[a]pyrene, and naphthalene exposure, and four effect biomarkers for nucleic acid and protein oxidative stress. Chemometrics was applied in order to investigate the existence of a synergistic effect for the exposure to the mixture and the contribution of active smoking. There is a significant difference between nicotine, benzene and PAH exposure biomarker concentrations of smokers and non-smokers, but the difference is not statistically significant for oxidative stress biomarkers. The PAH biomarkers are those which best correlate with all the oxidative stress biomarkers. Results suggest that 8-Oxo-7,8-dihydroguanine and protein nitro-oxidation 3-nitrotyrosine are the most sensitive biomarkers for the exposure to the urban pollutant mixtures and that a synergic effect of the mixtures exists. All the oxidative stress biomarkers studied drive the increase in the oxidative stress biomarkers in the subjects having higher exposures. Chemometrics proved to be a powerful method for the interpretation of human biomonitoring data.