1. |
- Lim, Hwanmi, et al.
(författare)
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Detection of Benz[j]aceanthrylene in Urban Air and Evaluation of Its Genotoxic Potential
- 2015
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Ingår i: Environmental Science and Technology. - Stockholm : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0013-936X .- 1520-5851. ; 49:5, s. 3101-3109
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Benz[j]aceanthrylene (B[j]A) is a cyclopenta-fused polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon with strong mutagenic and carcinogenic effects. We have identified B[j]A in air particulate matter (PM) in samples collected in Stockholm, Sweden and in Limeira, Brazil using LC-GC/MS analysis. Determined concentrations ranged between 1.57 and 12.7 and 19.6-30.2 pg/m(3) in Stockholm and Limeira, respectively, which was 11-30 times less than benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) concentrations. Activation of the DNA damage response was evaluated after exposure to B[j]A in HepG2 cells in comparison to B[a]P. We found that significantly lower concentrations of B[j]A were needed for an effect on cell viability compared to B[a]P, and equimolar exposure resulted in significant more DNA damage with B[j]A. Additionally, levels of gamma H2AX, pChk1, p53, pp53, and p21 proteins were higher in response to B[j]A than B[a]P. On the basis of dose response induction of pChk1 and gamma H2AX, B[j]A potency was 12.5- and 33.3-fold higher than B[a]P, respectively. Although B[j]A levels in air were low, including B[j]A in the estimation of excess lifetime cancer risk increased the risk up to 2-fold depending on which potency factor for B[j]A was applied. Together, our results show that B[j]A could be an important contributor to the cancer risk of air PM.
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2. |
- Merritt, Anne-Sophie, et al.
(författare)
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Cat and house dust mite allergen content is stable in frozen dust over time
- 2013
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Ingår i: Environmental Science and Technology. - Stockholm : Karolinska Institutet, Dept of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics. - 0013-936X .- 1520-5851.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Dust from indoor environments consists of animal allergens, pollen, endotoxins and other substances which may exacerbate symptoms in sensitive individuals. In prospective cohort studies, dust is often collected from indoor environments in order to assess allergen exposure and possible relationships to health outcomes. Typically, large numbers of samples are collected and kept frozen until further analysis, sometimes several years later. To date, there is insufficient knowledge about what happens to the dust and its contents during storage. Objectives: In the present study, our aim was to analyse allergen content over a 30 month period frozen dust collected from beds in homes in order to simulate a study design of exposure assessment commonly used in epidemiological studies. Methods: Thirty-seven dust samples from mattresses in homes were collected using a Duststream dust collector. Each dust sample was subdivided into six aliquots. One tube (baseline) was extracted and analysed for cat and HDM allergen content using ELISA, all other tubes were stored at -80°C until further handling. Approximately every six months (6, 12, 18 and 30 months), dust from one tube was thawed, extracted and analysed the same way. Data was log-transformed and analysed using linear regression. Results: No trend for decreasing or increasing cat (p=0.606) or house dust mite (p=0.928)allergen levels could be observed over time. Levels of cat allergen were considerably higher in mattresses from homes with cats compared to homes without cats (p<0.001). Conclusion: It is important to assess the allergen stability in dust before designing costly and labour-intensive studies of allergen exposure and health outcomes, commonly used in environmental epidemiology. Although the present study showed that cat and HDM allergens 3 remained stable in dust stored at -80°C during a 2.5 year period, analyses of other allergens or substances in frozen dust is desirable as well as evaluating the effect of longer storage times.
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3. |
- Achermann, Stefan, et al.
(författare)
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Trends in Micropollutant Biotransformation along a Solids Retention Time Gradient
- 2018
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Ingår i: Environmental Science and Technology. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0013-936X .- 1520-5851. ; 52:20, s. 11601-11611
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- For many polar organic micropollutants, biotransformation by activated sludge microorganisms is a major removal process during wastewater treatment. However, our current understanding of how wastewater treatment operations influence microbial communities and their micropollutant biotransformation potential is limited, leaving major parts of observed variability in biotransformation rates across treatment facilities unexplained. Here, we present biotransformation rate constants for 42 micropollutants belonging to different chemical classes along a gradient of solids retention time (SRT). The geometric mean of biomass-normalized first-order rate constants shows a clear increase between 3 and 15 d SRT by 160% and 87%, respectively, in two experiments. However, individual micropollutants show a variety of trends. Rate constants of oxidative biotransformation reactions mostly increased with SRT. Yet, nitrifying activity could be excluded as primary driver. For substances undergoing other than oxidative reactions, i.e., mostly substitution-type reactions, more diverse dependencies on SRT were observed. Most remarkably, characteristic trends were observed for groups of substances undergoing similar types of initial transformation reaction, suggesting that shared enzymes or enzyme systems that are conjointly regulated catalyze biotransformation reactions within such groups. These findings open up opportunities for correlating rate constants with measures of enzyme abundance such as genes or gene products, which in turn should help to identify enzymes associated with the respective biotransformation reactions.
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4. |
- Adediran, Gbotemi A., et al.
(författare)
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Microbial Biosynthesis of Thiol Compounds : Implications for Speciation, Cellular Uptake, and Methylation of Hg(II)
- 2019
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Ingår i: Environmental Science and Technology. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0013-936X .- 1520-5851. ; 53:14, s. 8187-8196
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Cellular uptake of inorganic divalent mercury (Hg(II)) is a key step in microbial formation of neurotoxic methylmercury (MeHg), but the mechanisms remain largely unidentified. We show that the iron reducing bacterium Geobacter sulfurreducens produces and exports appreciable amounts of low molecular mass thiol (LMM-RSH) compounds reaching concentrations of about 100 nM in the assay medium. These compounds largely control the chemical speciation and bioavailability of Hg(II) by the formation of Hg(LMM-RS)2 complexes (primarily with cysteine) in assays without added thiols. By characterizing these effects, we show that the thermodynamic stability of Hg(II)-complexes is a principal controlling factor for Hg(II) methylation by this bacterium such that less stable complexes with mixed ligation involving LMM-RSH, OH-, and Cl- are methylated at higher rates than the more stable Hg(LMM-RS)2 complexes. The Hg(II) methylation rate across different Hg(LMM-RS)2 compounds is also influenced by the chemical structure of the complexes. In contrast to the current perception of microbial uptake of Hg, our results adhere to generalized theories for metal biouptake based on metal complexation with cell surface ligands and refine the mechanistic understanding of Hg(II) availability for microbial methylation.
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5. |
- Adolfsson-Erici, Margaretha, et al.
(författare)
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Internal Benchmarking Improves Precision and Reduces Animal Requirements for Determination of Fish Bioconcentration Factors
- 2012
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Ingår i: Environmental Science and Technology. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0013-936X .- 1520-5851. ; 46:15, s. 8205-8211
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The enactment of new chemical regulations has generated a large need for the measurement of the fish bioconcentration factor (BCF). Past experience shows that the BCF determination lacks precision, requires large numbers of fish, and is costly. A new protocol was tested that shortens the experiment from up to 12 weeks for existing protocols to 2 weeks and reduces the number of fish by a factor of 5, while introducing internal benchmarking for the BCF determination. Rainbow trout were simultaneously exposed to 11 chemicals. The BCFs were quantified using one of the test chemicals, musk xylene, as a benchmark. These were compared with BCFs measured in a parallel experiment based on the OECD 305 guideline. The agreement was <20% for five chemicals and between 20%-25% for two further, while two chemicals lay outside the BCF operating window of the experiment and one was lost due to analytical difficulties. This agreement is better than that observed in a BCF Gold Standard Database. Internal benchmarking allows the improvement of the precision of BCF determination in parallel to large reduction in costs and fish requirements.
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6. |
- Aeppli, Christoph, et al.
(författare)
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Chlorine Isotope Effects and Composition of Naturally Produced Organochlorines from Chloroperoxidases, Flavin-Dependent Halogenases, and in Forest Soil
- 2013
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Ingår i: Environmental Science and Technology. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0013-936X .- 1520-5851. ; 47:13, s. 6864-6871
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The use of stable chlorine isotopic signatures (delta Cl-37) of organochlorine compounds has been suggested as a tool to determine both their origins and transformations in the environment. Here we investigated the delta Cl-37 fractionation of two important pathways for enzymatic natural halogenation: chlorination by chloroperoxidase (CPO) and flavin-dependent halogenases (FDH). Phenolic products of CPO were highly Cl-37 depleted (delta Cl-37 = -12.6 +/- 0.9 parts per thousand); significantly more depleted than all known industrially produced organochlorine compounds (delta Cl-37 = -7 to +6 parts per thousand). In contrast, four FDH products did not exhibit any observable isotopic shifts (delta Cl-37 = -0.3 +/- 0.6 parts per thousand). We attributed the different isotopic effect to the distinctly different chlorination mechanisms employed by the two enzymes. Furthermore, the delta Cl-37 in bulk organochlorines extracted from boreal forest soils were only slightly depleted in Cl-37 relative to inorganic Cl. In contrast to previous suggestions that CPO plays a key role in production of soil organochlorines, this observation points to the additional involvement of either other chlorination pathways, or that dechlorination of naturally produced organochlorines can neutralize delta Cl-37 shifts caused by CPO chlorination. Overall, this study demonstrates that chlorine isotopic signatures are highly useful to understand sources and cycling of organochlorines in nature. Furthermore, this study presents delta Cl-37 values of FDH products as well of bulk organochlorines extracted from pristine forest soil for the first time.
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7. |
- Aeppli, Christoph, et al.
(författare)
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Use of Cl and C Isotopic Fractionation to Identify Degradation and Sources of Polychlorinated Phenols : Mechanistic Study and Field Application
- 2013
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Ingår i: Environmental Science and Technology. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0013-936X .- 1520-5851. ; 47:2, s. 790-797
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The widespread use of chlorinated phenols (CPs) as a wood preservative has led to numerous contaminated sawmill sites. However, it remains challenging to assess the extent of in situ degradation of CPs. We evaluated the use of compound-specific chlorine and carbon isotope analysis (Cl- and C-CSLA) to assess CP biotransformation. In a laboratory system, we measured isotopic fractionation during oxidative 2,4,6-trichlorophenol dechlorination by representative soil enzymes (C. fumago chloroperoxidase, horseradish peroxidase, and laccase from T. versicolor). Using a mathematical model, the validity of the Rayleigh approach to evaluate apparent kinetic isotope effects (AKIE) was confirmed. A small but significant Cl-AKIE of 1.0022 +/- 0.0006 was observed for all three enzymes, consistent with a reaction pathway via a cationic radical species. For carbon, a slight inverse isotope effect was observed (C-AKIE = 0.9945 +/- 0.0019). This fractionation behavior is clearly distinguishable from reported reductive dechlorination mechanisms. Based on these results we then assessed degradation and apportioned different types of technical CP mixtures used at two former sawmill sites. To our knowledge, this is the first study that makes use of two-element CSIA to study sources and transformation of CPs in the environment.
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8. |
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9. |
- Agrell, Cecilia, et al.
(författare)
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Evidence of Latitudinal Fractionation of Polychlorinated Biphenyl Congeners along the Baltic Sea Region
- 1999
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Ingår i: Environmental Science & Technology. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1520-5851 .- 0013-936X. ; 33:8, s. 1149-1156
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Annual cycles of the atmospheric concentrations of PCBs were determined at 16 (mostly rural) stations around the Baltic Sea between 1990 and 1993. The concentration levels of individual congeners were found to be influenced by their physical-chemical properties, ambient temperature, and geographical location. Median levels of PCBs were similar at all stations except at one urban site near Riga. A latitudinal gradient with higher levels in the south was found for the sum of PCB as well as for individual congeners, and the gradient was more pronounced for the low volatility congeners. As a result, the high volatility congeners increased in relative importance with latitude. Generally, PCB concentrations increased with temperature, but slopes of the partial pressure in air versus reciprocal temperature were different between congeners and between stations. In general, the low volatility congeners were more temperature dependent than the high volatility PCB congeners. Steep slopes at a sampling location indicate that the concentration in air is largely determined by diffusive exchange with soils. Lack of a temperature dependence may be due to the influence of long-range transported air masses at remote sites and due to the episodic or random nature of PCB sources at urban sites.
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10. |
- Ahlgren, Joakim, et al.
(författare)
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Sediment Depth Attenuation of Biogenic Phosphorus Compounds Measured by 31P NMR
- 2005
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Ingår i: Environmental Science and Technology. - Univ Uppsala, Dept Analyt Chem, SE-75124 Uppsala, Sweden. Univ Uppsala, Dept Ecol & Evolut, Uppsala, Sweden. Univ Uppsala, Dept Organ Chem, SE-75124 Uppsala, Sweden. : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0013-936X .- 1520-5851. ; 39:3, s. 867-872
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Being a major cause of eutrophication and subsequent loss of water quality, the turnover of phosphorus (P) in lake sediments is in need of deeper understanding. A major part of the flux of P to eutrophic lake sediments is organically bound or of biogenic origin. This P is incorporated in a poorly described mixture of autochthonous and allochthonous sediment and forms the primary storage of P available for recycling to the water column, thus regulating lake trophic status. To identify and quantify biogenic sediment P and assess its lability, we analyzed sediment cores from Lake Erken, Sweden, using traditional P fractionation, and in parallel, NaOH extracts were analyzed using 31P NMR. The surface sediments contain orthophosphates (ortho-P) and pyrophosphates (pyro-P), as well as phosphate mono- and diesters. The first group of compounds to disappear with increased sediment depth is pyrophosphate, followed by a steady decline of the different ester compounds. Estimated half-life times of these compound groups are about 10 yr for pyrophosphate and 2 decades for mono- and diesters. Probably, these compounds will be mineralized to ortho-P and is thus potentially available for recycling to the water column, supporting further growth of phytoplankton. In conclusion, 31P NMR is a useful tool to asses the bioavailability of certain P compound groups, and the combination with traditional fractionation techniques makes quantification possible.
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