Institute of Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance, Institute of the Ruhr University Bochum (IPA), Bürkle-de-la-Camp-Platz 1, 44789 Bochum, Germany.
Arch Toxicol. 2011 Jun;85 Suppl 1:S41-52. doi: 10.1007/s00204-011-0681-6. Epub 2011 Mar 4.
Irritative effects caused by vapours and aerosols of bitumen were assessed by non-invasive methods including spirometry, nasal lavage fluid (NALF) and induced sputum (IS) in a cross-shift study comparing 320 bitumen-exposed workers with 118 road construction workers as the reference group. Lung function parameters, forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV(1)) were within normal ranges in both the reference and the bitumen-exposed groups pre- and post-shift with marginally lower values in smokers of both groups. During the shift, a slight decline in FEV(1) and FVC was observed in the bitumen-exposed group independent of their smoking habits, whereas in the non-smoking reference group, the decline in FEV(1) was not observed. No significant differences between bitumen-exposed workers and the reference group and no significant shift effect were observed on the upper airways using NALF analysis. The IS concentrations of interleukin (IL)-8, total protein and matrix metalloproteinase-9 were significantly higher in bitumen-exposed workers than in the reference group. However, the concentration of these three biomarkers in the IS samples, which are indicators of inflammatory effects on the lower airways of bitumen-exposed workers, was already higher in exposed workers before shift and did not show an increase during the shift. Therefore, the key finding of this aspect of the Human Bitumen Study is the detection of potentially (sub-) chronic irritative inflammatory effects in the lower airways of bitumen-exposed workers.
采用非侵入性方法（包括肺活量测定法、鼻洗液（NALF）和诱导痰（IS））评估了沥青蒸气和气溶胶的刺激性作用，这项交叉轮班研究比较了 320 名沥青暴露工人和 118 名道路施工工人（作为参考组）。在轮班前和轮班后，参考组和沥青暴露组的肺功能参数（用力肺活量[FVC]和 1 秒用力呼气量[FEV1]）均在正常范围内，两组吸烟者的这些参数值略低。在轮班期间，沥青暴露组的 FEV1 和 FVC 略有下降，但与他们的吸烟习惯无关，而在不吸烟的参考组中，未观察到 FEV1 的下降。在使用 NALF 分析时，未观察到沥青暴露工人与参考组之间存在显著差异，也未观察到明显的轮班影响。与参考组相比，沥青暴露工人的 IS 中白细胞介素（IL）-8、总蛋白和基质金属蛋白酶-9 的浓度明显更高。然而，这三种生物标志物在 IS 样本中的浓度（它们是沥青暴露工人下呼吸道炎症作用的指标）在轮班前就已经更高，且在轮班期间没有增加。因此，《人类沥青研究》这一方面的主要发现是检测到沥青暴露工人下呼吸道潜在的（亚）慢性刺激性炎症作用。
