Exhaled breath condensate as a biomonitor for metal exposure: a new analytical challenge
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Exhaled breath condensate as a biomonitor for metal exposure: a new analytical challenge M. A. Barreiros • T. Pinheiro • P. M. Fe´lix • C. Franco • M. Santos • F. Arau´jo • M. C. Freitas S. M. Almeida
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Received: 26 November 2012 Ó Akade´miai Kiado´, Budapest, Hungary 2012
Abstract The study of exhaled breath condensate (EBC) obtained by cooling exhaled air under conditions of spontaneous breathing is considered one of the areas with higher interest in respiratory health research. The use of EBC for elemental determination in occupational exposure requires a standard methodological procedure to implement its practice in occupational studies. EBC is an inhomogeneous sample with organic and particulate matter in suspension, which may hamper analytical results reliability. Total reflection X-ray fluorescence and inductive coupledplasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) techniques were chosen as both are multielemental, require small sample volumes and have appropriate detection limits. Estimation of the overall uncertainty in both techniques was carried out using a pool of EBC collected from a group of workers of a lead processing industry to perform precision and trueness studies for K, Mn, Cu, Cd, Sb and Pb. Precision was estimated in terms of repeatability using the native EBC sample pool and trueness in terms of recovery obtained from spiking aliquots of the EBC pool with K, Mn, Cu, Cd, Sb and Pb at different concentrations. Recovery was the most significant contribution to total uncertainty. The overall uncertainties obtained for ICP-MS enabled to discriminate between groups of individuals exposed to different levels of contaminants. Therefore EBC proved to be useful in human biomonitoring. M. A. Barreiros Laborato´rio Nacional de Energia e Geologia, Estrada do Pac¸o do Lumiar 22, 1649-038 Lisbon, Portugal T. Pinheiro (&) P. M. Fe´lix C. Franco M. Santos F. Arau´jo M. C. Freitas S. M. Almeida IST/ITN, Instituto Superior Te´cnico, Universidade Te´cnica de Lisboa, E.N.10, 2685-953 Sacavem, Portugal e-mail: [email protected]
Keywords Exhaled breath condensate (EBC) Biomonitoring ICP-MS TXRF Uncertainty
Introduction Exhaled breath condensate (EBC) is obtained by condensing the exhaled air into a cooled collection device by breathing tidally. The EBC is a matrix in which numerous volatile and non-volatile substances can be detected, enabling the assessment of biomarkers of effect (e.g., occupational assessments) and response (e.g., pulmonary pathobiology assessments) in real-time or in conditions close to real-time [1]. Measuring metals in EBC is a promising method of risk assessment, comparing with other common indicators (like blood), once it is noninvasive and quickly and easily collected [2, 3]. In occupational assessments where workers are exposed to metal dust the EBC may provide unique indication of direct exposure [4–6]. The emerging use of EBC for metal quantification in occupational exposure studies needs a standard methodological procedure [1], based on the requirements of both method validati
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