title: Source and nature of inhaled atmospheric dust from trace element analyses of human bronchial fluids.
abstract: Rapid volcanic eruptions quickly ejecting large amounts of dust provoke the accumulation of heavy metals in people living in surrounding areas. Analyses of bronchoalveolar lavage samples (BAL) collected from people exposed to the paroxysmal 2001 Etna eruption revealed a strong enrichment of many toxic heavy metals. Comparing the BAL to the dust composition of southeastern Sicily, we found that only V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, and U enrichment could be related to the volcanic event, whereas Ni, Cu, Cd, and Pb contents come from the dissolution of particles of anthropogenic origin. Furthermore, the nature of these inhaled anthropogenic particles was revealed by anomalous La and partially Ce concentrations in BAL that were consistent with a mixture of road dust and petroleum refinery emissions. Our results indicate that trace element distribution in BAL is a suitable tracer of human exposure to different sources of inhaled atmospheric particulates, allowing investigations into the origin of source materials inhaled by people subjected to atmospheric fallout.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento DiSTeM, Università di Palermo, Palermo, Italy. censi@unipa.it
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Censi
authors.forename: Pierpaolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zuddas
authors.forename: Loredana A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Randazzo
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tamburo
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Speziale
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cuttitta
authors.forename: Rosalda
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Punturo
authors.forename: Pietro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Aricò
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Santagata
mesh_terms: D001272:Atmosphere / Q000737:chemistry*; D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000737:chemistry*; D004391:Dust / Q000032:analysis*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D019570:Inhalation Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D012015:Reference Standards; D012802:Sicily; D012995:Solubility; D014131:Trace Elements / Q000032:analysis*; D018707:Volcanic Eruptions / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D004391:Dust; D014131:Trace Elements