Exposure Assessment for Atmospheric Ultrafine Particles (UFPs) and Implications in Epidemiologic Research

By C. Sioutas, Ralph J. Delfino, Manisha Singh. Environmental Health Perspectives, 2005

638 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Epidemiologic research has shown increases in adverse cardiovascular and respiratory outcomes in relation to mass concentrations of particulate matter (PM) ≤2.5 or ≤10 μm in diameter (PM2.5, PM10, respectively). In a companion article [Delfino RJ, Sioutas C, Malik S. 2005. Environ Health Perspect 113(8):934–946]), we discuss epidemiologic evidence pointing to underlying components linked to fossil fuel combustion. The causal components driving the PM associations remain to be identified, but emerging evidence on particle size and chemistry has led to some clues. There is sufficient reason to believe that ultrafine particles < 0.1 μm (UFPs) are important because when compared with larger particles, they have order of magnitudes higher particle number concentration and surface area, and larger concentrations of adsorbed or condensed toxic air pollutants (oxidant gases, organic compounds, transition metals) per unit mass. This is supported by evidence of significantly higher in vitro redox activity by UFPs than by larger PM. Although epidemiologic research is needed, exposure assessment issues for UFPs are complex and need to be considered before undertaking investigations of UFP health effects. These issues include high spatial variability, indoor sources, variable infiltration of UFPs from a variety of outside sources, and meteorologic factors leading to high seasonal variability in concentration and composition, including volatility. To address these issues, investigators need to develop as well as validate the analytic technologies required to characterize the physical/chemical nature of UFPs in various environments. In the present review, we provide a detailed discussion of key characteristics of UFPs, their sources and formation mechanisms, and methodologic approaches to assessing population exposures.

Subfields: Environmental Engineering, Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis, Pollution

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/1c3923f4f01ab9547401d3dd23bc167a70a10cd9

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Environmental Engineering

1. Ralph J. Delfino
2. C. Sioutas

In Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

1. Ralph J. Delfino
2. K. Robbie
3. I. Pacheco
4. Shaista Malik
5. C. Sioutas
6. C. Buzea

Citations in the corpus

• Nanomaterials and nanoparticles: Sources and toxicity (2007, background): “arrow) around a larger mineral particle (large arrow) [114]; (b) particle concentration decreases exponentially with downwind distance from the freeway (particles diameter between 6-220 nm) [24]; (c)”
• Potential Role of Ultrafine Particles in Associations between Airborne Particle Mass and Cardiovascular Health (2005, background): “However, as discussed in our companion article (Sioutas et al. 2005), exposures to UFPs can be magnitudes higher than background levels within vehicles and near busy highways, and to a much greater degree than larger particles.”
• Mechanisms of Nanoparticle-Induced Oxidative Stress and Toxicity (2013, background): “Once NP gain access into the mitochondria, they stimulate ROS via impaired electron transport chain, structural damage, activation of NADPH-like enzyme system, and depolarization of the mitochondrial membrane [37, 38].”