Exposició a la contaminació per compostos orgànics volàtils en laboratoris de Química: avaluació de l’anàlisi d’alè (volatoma) com a biomarcador d’exposició

Abstract

In this study there’s been an assess of the behaviour and distribution of organic polluting compounds that are present in the air of laboratories from the Chemistry Department of the Universitat of Girona and the ability of the analysis of the human volatome of monitoring exposure to those pollutants, i.e. volatile compounds found in the exhaled breath of the laboratory users. For the study there’s been laboratory air sampling, sampling of the breath from workers from the laboratories, and Science Faculty workers, which weren’t in contact with the polluted environments and have been used as control samples. The samples have been collected in Tedlar® bags and have been concentrated with a thermic desorption module with a capillarity microtrap developed by the Analytic Chemistry group of the Universitat of Girona to analyse VOC in air samples at ppbv-pptv levels. A gas chromatograph coupled to a mass spectrometer has been used for the analysis of the samples and the different compound peaks have been measured using different m/z relations for each compound. The data processing has consisted of an analysis of the pollutant levels in the air of the laboratories 201, 202, 203 and 209 through the day, and a statistical study to verify if there’re meaningful differences between the pollution levels detected in the different laboratories. Followed by a post-hoc study to discover in which laboratories are the differences located. For the breath samples, the data processing has consisted in a statistical study to verify if there’re meaningful differences between the pollution levels detected in the breath samples of the different laboratory users and the controls. The results have been the notice of a larger pollution in the laboratory 201 either in the air and the breath samples of this area users. There’s also been noticed that a diffusion of the pollutants between different areas is happening because of a non-existent retention and elimination system for the pollutants in the different areas. For the breath samples, evidences of the utility of its analysis as a biomarker for the exposure to volatile pollutants have been found