Abstract
Epidemiological studies demonstrated the adverse health effects of ambient particulate matter (PM) but it is not clear which specific characteristics (size, components) or sources of PM are responsible for the observed effects.
The aim of RAPTES project is to establish which specific characteristics of ambient PM are responsible for health effects associated with PM. To address this we combined exposure of volunteers with real-world exposure conditions at sites with high contrast and low correlation between PM characteristics.
30 young, healthy volunteers were exposed multiple times at different sites in Netherlands: two traffic sites, underground train station, farm and an urban background site. Exposure of volunteers and air pollution characterization took place on 30 days and included PM10, PM2.5, particle number concentration (PNC; ultrafines) and total oxidative potential of PM among the measurements. Volunteers were exposed for 5 hours and FENO (marker of airway inflammation), FEV1 and FVC were measured at different timepoints.
Exposure to PNC was associated with volunteers' FENO - immediately and 2 hours after exposure we observed an 11.6% increase over baseline, and 7.4% increase the next morning. PNC was also associated with an about 1% decrease in FEV1 and FVC at almost all measured timepoints.
PM10, PM2.5 and total oxidative potential were not associated with changes in FENO or lung function parameters.
An increase in FENO and decrease in lung function were observed in young, healthy volunteers after five-hour exposure to ambient air pollution, specifically associated with high concentrations of ultrafines and not with other major PM characteristics.
- © 2011 ERS