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Platinum (Pt) is a well-known constituent of particles emitted by catalytic converters during car operation. To evaluate Pt as a potential marker for traffic related particle exposure, we investigated Pt content along with metals vanadium (V) and chromium (Cr) in coarse and fine particulate matter (PM), sampled in four areas with different traffic density, as well as in the nasal lavage (NAL) of 67 children (average age: 6 years) living in these areas. The different sites were characterised by significant differences in air pollutants including PM, NO, NO(2), CO and Cr, but differences in V or Pt were absent. No significant differences in neutrophil and epithelial cell counts or concentrations of the neutrophil chemoattractant interleukin-8 (IL-8) were found in the NAL of children living in the different areas. In addition, the concentrations of V, Cr and Pt, which were detectable in 64%, 73% and 93% of the individuals, respectively, did not differ between the different locations. However, in the NAL of the children, a significant correlation between Pt and the number of neutrophils/ml (r=0.40, p<0.001) as well as of epithelial cells/ml (r=0.41, p<0.001) was found. No relation was present between nasal inflammation and nasal Cr levels, whereas a relatively weak association was observed between V and epithelial cells counts (r=0.30, p=0.018). In conclusion, our data suggests a role for nasal lavage Pt as a candidate biomarker for traffic-related PM, which is able to induce inflammation in the upper respiratory tract.

Lead contents in hair, whole blood and saliva were determined for 245 healthy children (121 male, 124 female, age: 8-10 years) from three residential areas of Düsseldorf (North-Rhine-Westphalia, Germany) with different traffic densities. The geometric mean for the lead content in hair was found to be 0.87 microg/g (range: 0.2-9.9 microg/g) for the entire test group. While the levels of lead in hair in the suburban population were significantly lower than in the two city centre populations, no significant difference concerning the lead content in hair could be detected in the latter. The geometric mean for lead concentration in whole blood amounted to 25.0 microg/l (range: 8.0-154 microg/l). There was no significant difference between the sub-groups. The lead concentrations found in saliva were rather low (range: < 1.5-47.0 microg/l). Of the values, 89% were below the detection limit of 1.5 microg/l. Due to reduced levels of lead in fuel, the present study exposes that the amount of lead in the children examined has further decreased compared to preceding surveys. The correlation between the lead content in hair and the road traffic density was not corroborated by the findings with regard to amounts of lead found in blood, indicating that residual lead from fuel does not result in a substantial burden of lead found in the whole body. In contrast to levels of lead found in blood, levels of lead found in hair may be influenced more by environmental conditions. Saliva is not a suitable material for biological monitoring with respect to lead exposure in children.

Methods for the determination of 3,4-dichloroaniline (3,4-DCA) and 3,5-dichloroaniline (3,5-DCA) as common markers of eight non-persistent pesticides in human urine are presented. 3,5-DCA is a marker for the exposure to the fungicides vinclozolin, procymidone, iprodione, and chlozolinate. Furthermore the herbicides diuron, linuron, neburon, and propanil are covered using their common marker 3,4-DCA. The urine samples were treated by basic hydrolysis to degrade all pesticides, metabolites, and their conjugates containing the intact moieties completely to the corresponding dichloroanilines. After addition of the internal standard 4-chloro-2-methylaniline, simultaneous steam distillation extraction (SDE) followed by liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) was carried out to produce, concentrate and purify the dichloroaniline moieties. Gas chromatography (GC) with mass spectrometric (MS) and tandem mass spectrometric (MS-MS) detection and also detection with an electron-capture detector (ECD) after derivatisation with heptafluorobutyric anhydride (HFBA) were employed for separation, detection, and identification. Limit of detection of the GC-MS-MS and the GC-ECD methods was 0.03 and 0.05 microg/l, respectively. Absolute recoveries obtained from a urine sample spiked with the internal standard, 3,5-, and 3,4-DCA, ranged from 93 to 103% with 9-18% coefficient of variation. The three detection techniques were compared concerning their performance, expenditure and suitability for their application in human biomonitoring studies. The described procedure has been successfully applied for the determination of 3,4- and 3,5-DCA in the urine of nonoccupationally exposed volunteers. The 3,4-DCA levels in these urine samples ranged between 0.13 and 0.34 microg/g creatinine or 0.11 and 0.56 microg/l, while those for 3,5-DCA were between 0.39 and 3.33 microg/g creatinine or 0.17 and 1.17 microg/l.

An improved analytical method for passive air sampling is presented based on a combination of commercially available diffusive samplers with headspace solid-phase microextraction and high-resolution gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (HRGC-FID). This procedure is targeted for short-term BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and o-, m- and p-xylenes) determinations at environmental concentrations and can be applied for sampling intervals between 30 min and 24 h. The analytes are adsorbed onto the charcoal pad of a passive sampler and then extracted with carbon disulphide-methanol. After removal of the carbon disulphide by xanthation, the BTEXs are enriched on a Carboxen SPME fiber, thermally desorbed and analysed by HRGC-FID. Detection limits for a sampling interval of 2 h are between 0.4 and 2 micrograms/m3, within-series precision ranges between 6.6 and 12.8%, day-to-day precision is between 11.1 and 15.2%. The results obtained with this procedure are validated by comparison with active sampling. Detection limits and a further reduction of the sampling time are limited by blanks of the chemicals and the diffusive samplers. Procedures to eliminate these blanks are described in detail. Applications such as the determination of BTEXs in indoor air inside buildings, inside a train and a car are presented, indicating the usefulness of the described procedure for short-term measurements of environmental BTEX concentrations. An advantage of passive samplers is the storage stability for at least six months, which is essential for its use in large epidemiological studies.

A fast and reliable method for the determination of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and chlorinated pesticides in human body fluids and tissues is presented. Sample clean-up and selective enrichment of analytes are carried out by liquid column chromatography without a prior solvent extraction step. Analytes are determined either by high-resolution capillary gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection, or by dual-column GC followed by electron-capture detection. A procedure is described for the simultaneous determination of environmental levels of the PCB congeners 28, 52, 101, 138, 153 and 180 in human cord serum. The method allows the simultaneous determination of chlorinated pesticides such as aldrin, DDT, DDE, BHC and HCB and is also applicable to other biological matrices, such as bone marrow or tissues.