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ABSTRACT
A number of literatures have documented adverse health effects of exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5), and secondary sulfate aerosol and black carbon may contribute to health impacts of PM2.5 exposure. We designed an exposure system to generate sulfate and traffic soot particles, and assessed the feasibility of using it for human exposure assessment in a pilot human exposure study. In the designed exposure system, average mass concentrations of generated sulfate and soot particles were 74.19μg/m3 and 11.54μg/m3 in the chamber and did not vary significantly during two-hour human exposure sessions. The size ranges of generated sulfate were largely between 20 to 200 nm, whereas those of generated soot particles were in the size ranges of 50 to 200nm. Following two-hour exposure to generated sulfate and soot particles, we observed significant increases in fractional exhaled NO (FeNO) in young and health subjects. Building on established human exposure system and health response follow-up methods, future full-scale studies focusing on the effects of mixed particulates and individual PM2.5 components would provide data in understanding the underpinning cardio-respiratory outcomes in relation to air pollution mixture exposure.
Implications: Controlled exposure is a useful design to measure the biological responses repeatedly following particulate exposures of target components and set exposure at target levels of health concerns. Our study provides rational and establishes method for future full-scale studies to focus on examining the effects of mixed particulates and individual PM2.5 components.
Acknowledgments
The authors appreciated significant comments in study design and manuscript preparation from Professor Thomas J. Smith at Harvard School of Public Health.
Funding
The study was supported by Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (grant 2008AA062503); Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection (grant201009032), Peking University Health Science Centre (BMU20130339), and Shenzhen Municipal Government Innovation Funds (KC2013ZDZJ0001A and JCYJ20130402164725022). The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Supplemental data for this paper can be accessed at the publisher’s Web site.
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Notes on contributors
Xi Chen
Xi Chen and Yitong Sun are research students, Qian Zhao and Xiaoming Song are environmental health research fellows, and Wei Huang is a Research Professor at Peking University School of Public Health, Peking University Institute of Environmental Medicine, and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Molecular Cardiovascular Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of China.
Yitong Sun
Xi Chen and Yitong Sun are research students, Qian Zhao and Xiaoming Song are environmental health research fellows, and Wei Huang is a Research Professor at Peking University School of Public Health, Peking University Institute of Environmental Medicine, and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Molecular Cardiovascular Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of China.
Qian Zhao
Xi Chen and Yitong Sun are research students, Qian Zhao and Xiaoming Song are environmental health research fellows, and Wei Huang is a Research Professor at Peking University School of Public Health, Peking University Institute of Environmental Medicine, and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Molecular Cardiovascular Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of China.
Xiaoming Song
Xi Chen and Yitong Sun are research students, Qian Zhao and Xiaoming Song are environmental health research fellows, and Wei Huang is a Research Professor at Peking University School of Public Health, Peking University Institute of Environmental Medicine, and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Molecular Cardiovascular Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of China.
Wei Huang
Xi Chen and Yitong Sun are research students, Qian Zhao and Xiaoming Song are environmental health research fellows, and Wei Huang is a Research Professor at Peking University School of Public Health, Peking University Institute of Environmental Medicine, and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Molecular Cardiovascular Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of China.
Yiqun Han
Yiqun Han, Jing Shang, and Tong Zhu are environmental science research fellows and faculty at College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China.
Jing Shang
Yiqun Han, Jing Shang, and Tong Zhu are environmental science research fellows and faculty at College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China.
Tong Zhu
Yiqun Han, Jing Shang, and Tong Zhu are environmental science research fellows and faculty at College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China.
Aihua Wu
Aihua Wu and Shengji Luan are laboratory research faculty at Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, PKU-HKUST Shenzhen-Hong Kong Institution, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, People’s Republic of China.
Shengji Luan
Aihua Wu and Shengji Luan are laboratory research faculty at Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, PKU-HKUST Shenzhen-Hong Kong Institution, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, People’s Republic of China.