title: Exhaled breath condensate: an overview.
abstract: Exhaled breath condensate (EBC) is a promising source of biomarkers of lung disease. EBC may be thought of either as a body fluid or as a condensate of exhaled gas. There are 3 principal contributors to EBC: variable-sized particles or droplets that are aerosolized from the airway lining fluid, distilled water that condenses from gas phase out of the nearly water-saturated exhalate, and water-soluble volatiles that are exhaled and absorbed into the condensing breath. The nonvolatile constituents and the water-soluble volatile constituents are of particular interest. Several key issues are discussed in this article.
authors.affiliation: Department of Adult Health and Nursing Systems, School of Nursing, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, 23298-0567, USA. mdavis35@vcu.edu
authors.forename: Michael D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Montpetit
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hunt
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers; D001944:Breath Tests; D045853:Exhalation; D006801:Humans; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010316:Particle Size; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers