| Autor: |
Monsé C; Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance, Institute of the Ruhr University Bochum (IPA), Bochum, Germany. monse@ipa-dguv.de., Hagemeyer O; Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance, Institute of the Ruhr University Bochum (IPA), Bochum, Germany., van Kampen V; Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance, Institute of the Ruhr University Bochum (IPA), Bochum, Germany., Raulf M; Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance, Institute of the Ruhr University Bochum (IPA), Bochum, Germany., Weiss T; Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance, Institute of the Ruhr University Bochum (IPA), Bochum, Germany., Menne E; Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance, Institute of the Ruhr University Bochum (IPA), Bochum, Germany., Jettkant B; Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance, Institute of the Ruhr University Bochum (IPA), Bochum, Germany., Kendzia B; Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance, Institute of the Ruhr University Bochum (IPA), Bochum, Germany., Merget R; Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance, Institute of the Ruhr University Bochum (IPA), Bochum, Germany., Brüning T; Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance, Institute of the Ruhr University Bochum (IPA), Bochum, Germany., Bünger J; Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance, Institute of the Ruhr University Bochum (IPA), Bochum, Germany. |
| Abstrakt: |
Workers in the zinc processing, for example, welding or hot-dip galvanizing, are exposed to aerosols consisting of particles and gases, including zinc oxide (ZnO), which can affect human health. In this study, we addressed the effects of short-term controlled exposure to nano-sized ZnO on the airway inflammatory markers in healthy volunteers. To this end, we determined the influence of ZnO inhalation on the content of zinc and biomarkers (leukotriene B 4 (LTB 4 ), peptide leukotrienes (LTC 4 /D 4 /E 4 ), 8-iso-PGF 2α , pH, and prostaglandin E 2 (PGE 2 )) in exhaled breath condensate (EBC). Sixteen non-smoking subjects (8 females, 8 men) were exposed to filtered air (sham) or ZnO nanoparticles (0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 mg/m 3 ) for 4 h. EBC samples were collected according to specific study design. We found that the peptide leukotrienes were below the limit of quantification (LOQ) in all the EBC samples. ZnO exposure showed no detectable effect on any other parameters investigated when comparing the two groups. The content of Zn in EBC was unaffected by ZnO inhalation at any concentration used. Therefore, we conclude that the evaluation of Zn and biomarker content in EBC would not be a suitable way to assess the exposure to inhaled ZnO. |
