Abstract for presentation at 14th IUAPPA World Congress

Semivolatile Organic Compounds may be monitored using passive air samplers such as the semipermeable membrane device. These compounds are present in air as complex mixtures, many components of which are uncharacterised. Current regulatory approaches however, focus on relatively few indivdual chemicals which are sufficiently characterised, for monitoring purposes. Bioanalytical approaches which assess the mechanisms of toxicity for these compounds may provide a more meaningful assessment of the potential hazard resulting from exposure to these chemicals.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the application of two bioanalytical techniques in the evaluation of passive air sampling extracts. Semipermeable membrane devices were deployed at five sites in Queensland for a period of 30 days. Samplers were extracted in n-hexane, and subjected to size exclusion chromatography to isolate the fraction containing important classess of SOCs including PAHs, PCBs, PCDD/Fs and Nitro-PAH. Extracts were evaporated under nitrogen and solvent exchanged to 120 μL DMSO for bioanalysis. Replicate samples were tested in triplicate on the SOS/umu assay (genotoxicity) and the DR-CAFLUX assay (Ah Receptor agonists). These assays assess pertinent modes of actions for this class of compounds.
The sum of Benzo[a]pyrene Equivalence (ng) was determined for each site from GC-MS analysis for 16 priority pollutant PAHs for co-deployed SPMDs. Significantly this parameter does not appear to correlate with observed effect in the assays for all sites, suggesting that other non-quantified components of these mixtures may be responsible for the observed effect.