Jin Qianqian, Fan Yinzheng, Lu Yichun, Zhan Yuting, Sun Jiaji, Tao Danyang, He Yuhe
School of Energy and Environment and State Key Laboratory of Marine Pollution, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China; Research Centre for the Oceans and Human Health, City University of Hong Kong Shenzhen Research Institute, Shenzhen 518057, China.
School of Energy and Environment and State Key Laboratory of Marine Pollution, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
Environ Int. 2023 Oct;180:108212. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2023.108212. Epub 2023 Sep 18.
Indoor dust contaminated with liquid crystal monomers (LCMs) released from various commercial liquid crystal display (LCD) screens may pose environmental health risks to humans. This study aimed to investigate the occurrence of 64 LCMs in ventilation and air conditioning filters (VACF) dust, characterize their composition profiles, potential sources, and associations with indoor characteristics, and assess their in vitro toxicity using the human lung bronchial epithelial cells (BEAS-2B). A total of 31 LCMs with concentrations (ΣLCMs) ranging from 43.7 ng/g to 448 ng/g were detected in the collected VACF dust. Additional analysis revealed the potential interactions between indoor environmental conditions and human exposure risks associated with the detected LCMs in VACF dust. The service area and working time of the ventilation and air conditioning system, and the number of indoor LCD screens were positively correlated with the fluorinated ΣLCMs in VACF dust (r = 0.355 ∼ 0.511, p < 0.05), while the associations with the non-fluorinated ΣLCMs were not found (p > 0.05), suggesting different environmental behavior and fates of fluorinated and non-fluorinated LCMs in the indoor environment. Four main indoor sources of LCMs (i.e., computer (37.1%), television (28.3%), Brand A smartphone (21.2%) and Brand S smartphone (13.4%)) were identified by positive matrix factorization-multiple linear regression (PMF-MLR). Exposure to 14 relatively frequently detected LCMs, individually and in the mixture, induced significant oxidative stress in BEAS-2B cells. Among them, non-fluorinated LCMs, specifically 3cH2B and MeP3bcH, caused dominant decreased cell viability. This study provides new insights into the indoor LCMs pollution and the associated potential health risks due to the daily use of electronic devices.
受各种商用液晶显示器（LCD）屏幕释放的液晶单体（LCMs）污染的室内灰尘可能对人类构成环境健康风险。本研究旨在调查通风和空调过滤器（VACF）灰尘中64种LCMs的存在情况，表征其组成特征、潜在来源以及与室内特征的关联，并使用人肺支气管上皮细胞（BEAS-2B）评估其体外毒性。在所收集的VACF灰尘中检测到总共31种LCMs，其浓度（ΣLCMs）范围为43.7 ng/g至448 ng/g。进一步分析揭示了室内环境条件与VACF灰尘中检测到的LCMs相关的人类暴露风险之间的潜在相互作用。通风和空调系统的服务面积和工作时间以及室内LCD屏幕的数量与VACF灰尘中的氟化ΣLCMs呈正相关（r = 0.355 ∼ 0.511，p < 0.05），而未发现与非氟化ΣLCMs的相关性（p > 0.05），这表明氟化和非氟化LCMs在室内环境中的环境行为和归宿不同。通过正矩阵分解 - 多元线性回归（PMF-MLR）确定了LCMs的四个主要室内来源（即计算机（37.1%）、电视（28.3%）、A品牌智能手机（21.2%）和S品牌智能手机（13.4%））。单独和混合暴露于14种相对频繁检测到的LCMs会在BEAS-2B细胞中诱导显著的氧化应激。其中，非氟化LCMs，特别是3cH2B和MeP3bcH，导致细胞活力显著下降。本研究为日常使用电子设备导致的室内LCMs污染及相关潜在健康风险提供了新的见解。
