Fireman Elizabeth, Edelheit Rinat, Stark Moshe, Shai Amir Bar
Laboratory of Pulmonary and Allergic Diseases, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Pulmonology Department, Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center affiliated to the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, 6 Weizman Street, 64239 Tel Aviv, Israel.
J Nanopart Res. 2017;19(2):30. doi: 10.1007/s11051-016-3711-8. Epub 2017 Jan 17.
Ultrafine particles (UFP) have been postulated to significantly contribute to the adverse health effects associated with exposure to particulate matter (PM). Due to their extremely small size (aerodynamic diameter <100 nm), UFP are able to deposit deep within the lung after inhalation and evade many mechanisms responsible for the clearance of larger particles. There is a lack of biologically relevant personal exposure metrics for exposure to occupational- and environmental-related micro- and nano-sized PM. The aim of the present study is to assess UFP in induced sputum (IS) and exhaled breath condensate (EBC) as possible biomarkers for assessing lung function impairment. Sputum induction and EBC testing were performed by conventional methods. UFP particles were assessed with the NanoSight LM20 (NanoSight Ltd, London, UK). The subjects included 35 exposed and 25 non-exposed workers. There were no group differences in pulmonary function test results and differential cell counts, but 63.6% of the exposed subjects had a higher percentage of neutrophils (OR3.28 = 0.03) compared to the non-exposed subjects. The exposed subjects had higher percentages of UFP between 10 and 50 nm (69.45 ± 18.70 vs 60.11 ± 17.52 for the non-exposed group, = 0.004). No differences were found in the IS samples. Years of exposure correlated positively to UFP content ( = 0.342 = 0.01) and macrophage content ( = -0.327 = 0.03). The percentage of small fraction of UFP in EBC, but not IS, is higher in exposed workers, and EBC may be a sensitive biomarker to assess exposure to nanoparticles.
超细颗粒（UFP）被认为是导致与接触颗粒物（PM）相关的不良健康影响的重要因素。由于其尺寸极小（空气动力学直径<100纳米），UFP在吸入后能够深入沉积在肺部，并避开许多负责清除较大颗粒的机制。目前缺乏与职业和环境相关的微米级和纳米级PM接触的生物学相关个人接触指标。本研究的目的是评估诱导痰（IS）和呼出气冷凝物（EBC）中的UFP，作为评估肺功能损害的可能生物标志物。通过常规方法进行痰液诱导和EBC检测。使用NanoSight LM20（英国伦敦NanoSight有限公司）评估UFP颗粒。受试者包括35名暴露工人和25名未暴露工人。肺功能测试结果和细胞分类计数在两组之间没有差异，但与未暴露受试者相比，63.6%的暴露受试者中性粒细胞百分比更高（OR3.28 = 0.03）。暴露受试者中10至50纳米的UFP百分比更高（未暴露组为69.45±18.70，暴露组为60.11±17.52，P = 0.004）。在IS样本中未发现差异。暴露年限与UFP含量（P = 0.342，P = 0.01）和巨噬细胞含量（P = -0.327，P = 0.03）呈正相关。暴露工人的EBC中UFP小部分的百分比高于IS，EBC可能是评估纳米颗粒暴露的敏感生物标志物。
