Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Inhal Toxicol. 2011 Aug;23 Suppl 2(0 2):1-10. doi: 10.3109/08958378.2010.568019. Epub 2011 Jun 3.
Determining the health impacts of sources and components of fine particulate matter (PM(2.5)) is an important scientific goal. PM(2.5) is a complex mixture of inorganic and organic constituents that are likely to differ in their potential to cause adverse health outcomes. The Toxicological Evaluation of Realistic Emissions of Source Aerosols (TERESA) study focused on two PM sources--coal-fired power plants and mobile sources--and sought to investigate the toxicological effects of exposure to emissions from these sources. The set of papers published here document the power plant experiments. TERESA attempted to delineate health effects of primary particles, secondary (aged) particles, and mixtures of these with common atmospheric constituents. TERESA involved withdrawal of emissions from the stacks of three coal-fired power plants in the United States. The emissions were aged and atmospherically transformed in a mobile laboratory simulating downwind power plant plume processing. Toxicological evaluations were carried out in laboratory rats exposed to different emission scenarios with extensive exposure characterization. The approach employed in TERESA was ambitious and innovative. Technical challenges included the development of stack sampling technology that prevented condensation of water vapor from the power plant exhaust during sampling and transfer, while minimizing losses of primary particles; development and optimization of a photochemical chamber to provide an aged aerosol for animal exposures; development and evaluation of a denuder system to remove excess gaseous components; and development of a mobile toxicology laboratory. This paper provides an overview of the conceptual framework, design, and methods employed in the study.
确定细颗粒物 (PM(2.5)) 的来源和成分对健康的影响是一个重要的科学目标。PM(2.5) 是一种复杂的无机和有机成分混合物，它们在引起不良健康后果的潜力方面可能有所不同。实际排放源气溶胶的毒理学评价 (TERESA) 研究集中在两个 PM 源——燃煤电厂和移动源，并试图调查接触这些源排放物的毒理学影响。这里发表的一系列论文记录了电厂实验。TERESA 试图描绘出原始颗粒、二次（老化）颗粒以及这些颗粒与常见大气成分混合物的健康影响。TERESA 涉及从美国的三座燃煤电厂的烟囱中抽取排放物。这些排放物在移动实验室中进行老化和大气转化，模拟下风电厂羽流处理。毒理学评估在实验室大鼠中进行，大鼠暴露于不同的排放情景下，进行了广泛的暴露特征描述。TERESA 采用的方法雄心勃勃且具有创新性。技术挑战包括开发堆栈采样技术，该技术可防止在采样和转移过程中从电厂废气中凝结水蒸气，同时尽量减少原始颗粒的损失；开发和优化光化学室，为动物暴露提供老化气溶胶；开发和评估除气系统，以去除多余的气态成分；以及开发移动毒理学实验室。本文提供了该研究中使用的概念框架、设计和方法的概述。
