TY - JOUR
T1 - Contamination profiles and potential health risks of organophosphate flame retardants in PM2.5 from Guangzhou and Taiyuan, China
AU - Chen, Yanyan
AU - Song, Yuanyuan
AU - Chen, Yi Jie
AU - Zhang, Yanhao
AU - Li, Ruijin
AU - Wang, Yujie
AU - Qi, Zenghua
AU - Chen, Zhi Feng
AU - Cai, Zongwei
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (91543202 and 41603072), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province , China (2016A030313695 ), the National Key research and development program-cooperation on scientific and technological innovation in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan (2017YFE0191000), and the Local Innovative and Research Teams Project of Guangdong Pearl River Talents Program (2017BT01Z032).
PY - 2020/1
Y1 - 2020/1
N2 - Organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs) are emerging contaminants in recent years. They can be present in the atmospheric fine particle (PM2.5), leading to potential adverse effects on humans. In this study, the concentrations and in vitro toxicities of OPFRs in PM2.5 samples were investigated for one year at Guangzhou and Taiyuan in China. Eleven OPFRs, including chloro-, aryl-, and alkyl-substituted OPFRs, were detected at total concentrations ranging from 3.10 to 544 ng m−3. Chloro-substituted OPFRs were the dominant contaminants. Based on the statistical analysis, the same contamination sources of all OPFRs were found except for tris(butoxyethyl) phosphate (TBOEP) and triethyl phosphate (TEP), which may come from traffic emission. The results of cell viability and dithiothreitol assays indicated that OPFRs and PM2.5 could induce the death of normal lung epithelial cells and the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), respectively. According to the redundancy analysis, the distribution of OPFRs was significantly related to the PM2.5 concentrations and indirectly associated with ROS production induced by PM2.5 from Taiyuan. Exposure to PM2.5-bound OPFRs in Guangzhou and Taiyuan only posed minimum health risks to both toddlers and adults. These findings could provide important evidence to better clarify the contamination profiles and human health risks of OPFRs in atmospheric fine particles.
AB - Organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs) are emerging contaminants in recent years. They can be present in the atmospheric fine particle (PM2.5), leading to potential adverse effects on humans. In this study, the concentrations and in vitro toxicities of OPFRs in PM2.5 samples were investigated for one year at Guangzhou and Taiyuan in China. Eleven OPFRs, including chloro-, aryl-, and alkyl-substituted OPFRs, were detected at total concentrations ranging from 3.10 to 544 ng m−3. Chloro-substituted OPFRs were the dominant contaminants. Based on the statistical analysis, the same contamination sources of all OPFRs were found except for tris(butoxyethyl) phosphate (TBOEP) and triethyl phosphate (TEP), which may come from traffic emission. The results of cell viability and dithiothreitol assays indicated that OPFRs and PM2.5 could induce the death of normal lung epithelial cells and the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), respectively. According to the redundancy analysis, the distribution of OPFRs was significantly related to the PM2.5 concentrations and indirectly associated with ROS production induced by PM2.5 from Taiyuan. Exposure to PM2.5-bound OPFRs in Guangzhou and Taiyuan only posed minimum health risks to both toddlers and adults. These findings could provide important evidence to better clarify the contamination profiles and human health risks of OPFRs in atmospheric fine particles.
KW - Contamination profile
KW - Health risk assessment
KW - In vitro assay
KW - Organophosphate flame retardants
KW - PM
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85075529530&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.envint.2019.105343
DO - 10.1016/j.envint.2019.105343
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 31778934
AN - SCOPUS:85075529530
SN - 0160-4120
VL - 134
JO - Environment International
JF - Environment International
M1 - 105343
ER -