Wirnkor Verla Andrew, Ngozi Verla Evelyn, Ajero Chigbo Medo, Charity Lele Kelechi, Ngozi Okechukwu StellaMaris, Ebere Enyoh Christian, Emeka Amaobi Collins
Group Research in Analytical Chemistry, Environment and Climate Change (GRACE & CC), Department of Chemistry, Imo State University, PMB 2000 Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria.
Department of Environmental Technology, School of Environmental Technology Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State Nigeria.
Environ Anal Health Toxicol. 2019 Dec;34(4):e2019011-0. doi: 10.5620/eaht.e2019011. Epub 2019 Dec 9.
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) exposure is among the leading air pollutants associated with diverse adverse health effects due to their persistent, bio-accumulative and toxic characteristics. Children are most affected by these pollutants, yet studies directly related children to these pollutants are scarce in Nigeria. In this study, blood and urine from 36 children between the ages 4-14 years were collected as per sterile procedures by a licensed phlebotomist from the antecubital fossa into BD vacutainer tubes® while a mid-stream urine sample into acid-washed 120 mL BD vacutainer urine cups and stored in refrigerator at -4˚C for 6 hours, then each 5 mL was extracted with 10 mL of pentane and analyzed for 15 PAHs using GC-MS. Results revealed that PAHs concentrations (53.48 to 70.8 μg/dL) in blood was lower than in urine (94.98 to 115.04 μg/dL). Mean values had no significant (p>0.5) differences between schools, possibly due to the fact that all schools were experiencing similar anthropogenic disturbances. At 5% level of significance, positive and strong correlationships (r=0.83, r=0.73) were observed for fluorene-fluoranthene (FLa) and benzo (a) anthracene-FLa respectively in blood samples. Two and three rings PAHs had generally low concentrations in both blood and urine. Despite being the most distributed compound, the concentration of dibenzo (a,h) anthracene was highest for urine than in blood. Urine PAHs showed higher concentration of carcinogenic PAHs than blood. Elimination ratios (ER) such as for acenaphthene (0.06) and anthracene (Ant; 0.11) were considered low while values such as for FLa (1.36) and indeno [1, 2, 3-cd] pyrene (1.55) were considered high ER. Trends in elimination ratios showed close similarity. In conclusion there was elevated PAHs in blood and urine of children with consequent high carcinogenic and then non-carcinogenic risks. This research is significant in setting the stage for more detailed work at same time alerting policy makers on the need for urgent mitigation steps that will reduce children exposure to this class of dangerous pollutants.
多环芳烃（PAHs）暴露是主要的空气污染物之一，因其具有持久性、生物累积性和毒性特征，会对健康产生多种不利影响。儿童受这些污染物的影响最大，但在尼日利亚，直接将儿童与这些污染物相关联的研究却很匮乏。在本研究中，一名有执照的采血员按照无菌操作程序，从36名4至14岁儿童的肘前窝采集血液和尿液，血液采集到BD真空采血管®中，同时采集中段尿液样本至酸洗过的120 mL BD真空采血管尿杯中，并在-4˚C的冰箱中储存6小时，然后每份5 mL样本用10 mL戊烷萃取，并用气相色谱 - 质谱联用仪分析15种多环芳烃。结果显示，血液中多环芳烃浓度（53.48至70.8 μg/dL）低于尿液中的浓度（94.98至115.04 μg/dL）。各学校之间的平均值无显著差异（p>0.5），这可能是因为所有学校都面临类似的人为干扰。在5%的显著水平下，血液样本中芴 - 荧蒽（FLa）和苯并（a）蒽 - FLa分别呈现出正且强的相关性（r = 0.83，r = 0.73）。二环和三环多环芳烃在血液和尿液中的浓度普遍较低。尽管二苯并（a,h）蒽是分布最广的化合物，但其在尿液中的浓度高于血液中的浓度。尿液中的多环芳烃显示出比血液中更高浓度的致癌性多环芳烃。苊烯（0.06）和蒽（Ant；0.11）等消除率被认为较低，而FLa（1.36）和茚并[1,2,3 - cd]芘（1.55）等的值被认为消除率较高。消除率趋势显示出密切的相似性。总之，儿童血液和尿液中的多环芳烃含量升高，随之而来的是致癌风险和非致癌风险增加。这项研究对于开展更详细的工作具有重要意义，同时也提醒政策制定者迫切需要采取缓解措施，以减少儿童接触这类危险污染物。
