Abstract
Exposure to environmental and occupational particulate matter (PM) induces health effects on the cardio-pulmonary system. In addition, associations between exposure to PM and metabolic syndromes like diabetes mellitus or obesity are now emerging in the literature. Collection of exhaled breath condensate (EBC) is an appealing non-invasive technique to sample pulmonary fluids. This hypothesis-generating study aims to (1) validate an ion chromatography method allowing the robust determination of different metabolism-related molecules (lactate, formate, acetate, propionate, butyrate, pyruvate, nitrite, nitrate) in EBC; (2) apply this method to EBC samples collected from workers exposed to quartz (a known inflammatory particle), to soapstone (a less inflammatory particle than quartz), as well as to controls. A multi-compound standard solution was used to determine the linearity range, detection limit, repeatability and bias from spiked EBC. The biological samples were injected without further treatment into an ion chromatograph with a conductivity detector. RTube® were used for field collection of EBC from 11 controls, 55 workers exposed to soapstone and 12 volunteers exposed to quartz dust. The analytical method used proved to be adequate for quantifying eight anions in EBC samples. Its sub-micromolar detection limits and repeatability, combined with a very simple sample preparation, allowed an easy and fast quantification of different glycolysis or nitrosative stress metabolites. Using multivariate discriminant analysis to maximize differences between groups, we observed a different pattern of anions with a higher formate/acetate ratio in the EBC samples for quartz exposed workers compared to the two other groups. We hypothesize that a modification of the metabolic signature could be induced by exposure to inflammatory particles like quartz and might be observed in the EBC via a change in the formate/acetate ratio.
Highlights
Increasing evidence indicates that exposure to environmental and occupational particulate matter (PM) induces health effects on the cardio-pulmonary system [1]
By using a validated ion chromatography method and a statistical treatment based on multiple linear discriminant analysis, we observed a different pattern of anions in exhaled breath condensate (EBC) samples for quartz exposed workers compared to the soapstone or control groups, with a lower formate to acetate ratio for these two last groups
In a similar study comparing metabolic EBC fingerprints of obese asthmatics (OA), lean asthmatics (LA) and obese non asthmatics (ONA) [32], a reduced level of acetate was determined for both OA and LA compared to ONA
Summary
Increasing evidence indicates that exposure to environmental and occupational particulate matter (PM) induces health effects on the cardio-pulmonary system [1]. Particles with specific surface characteristics or chemical compositions can trigger signaling pathways through oxidative stress, inducing inflammation [2]. Beside this recognized effect, associations between exposure to PM and metabolic syndromes like diabetes mellitus [3,4,5] or obesity [6] are emerging in the literature. In order to identify potential pathways associated with such effects, metabolomics techniques are often used. These techniques, J-J Sauvain et al combining high-throughput mass spectrometry detection (MS) or nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) with bioinformatics, allow the identification and quantification of small molecules resulting from biochemical processes taking place in cells, tissues or organs [7]. The final goal of such techniques is to find differences in the pattern of measured metabolites in order to differentiate groups
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