Oral bioavailability of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in atmospheric particulate matter

Resumen

The transport of deposited particles in lung during breathing to the gastrointestinal tract is one of the clearance mechanism that may occur into the respiratory system. In the context of human health-risk assessment, oral bioavailability refers to the pollutant fraction that diffuses across the gastrointestinal tract and reach the systemic circulation (blood). The main aim of this research is using a novel in-vitro testing to assess the oral bioavailability of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in PM10 samples at urban site of A Coruña, and the accurately toxicity prediction of PAHs in PM10 using bioavailable concentrations in order to achieve real risk assessment. Total PAHs concentrations of the samples were necessary to determine in order to obtain bioavailable percentages, by using an already developed new green analytical method. Oral bioavailability ratios lower than 1 % were found for several PAHs such as pyrene, benzo(a)anthracene, chrysene, benzo(e)pyrene and benzo(k)fluoranthene. Phenanthrene has the highest bioavailable concentrations, reaching the 18 %.