title: Long-range transport of mutagens and other air pollutants from mainland East Asia to western Japan.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Asian dust events, transport of dust particles from arid and semi-arid areas in China and Mongolia to the east by prevailing westerlies, are often observed in Japan in spring. In recent decades, consumption of fossil fuels has markedly increased in mainland East Asia with rapid economic growth, and severe air pollution has occurred. A part of air pollutants including mutagens, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), generated in mainland East Asia are thought to be transported to Japan by the prevailing westerlies, like Asian dust, and winter monsoon. The objective of this study was to clarify the long-range transport of mutagens and other air pollutants in East Asia. Thus, we collected total suspended particles (TSP) at a rural town in western Japan, namely, Yurihama in Tottori Prefecture, for 1 year (June 2012-May 2013), and investigated their chemical constituents and mutagenicity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Many TSP collected from January to March showed high mutagenicity toward Salmonella typhimurium YG1024 with and without S9 mix, and high levels of lead (Pb) and sulfate ions (SO4 (2-)), which are indicators of transboundary air pollutions from mainland East Asia, were detected in those TSP. A large amount of iron, which is an indicator of sand, was found in highly mutagenic TSP collected in March, but not in TSP collected in January and February. High levels of PAHs were detected in highly mutagenic TSP collected from January to March. The ratios of the concentration of fluoranthene to those of fluoranthene and pyrene suggested that the main source of PAHs in TSP collected in winter and spring was coal and biomass combustion. Backward trajectories of air masses on days when high levels of mutagenicity were found indicated that these air masses had traveled from eastern or northern China to Yurihama.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that high levels of mutagens were transported from mainland East Asia to western Japan, and this transportation accompanied Asian dust in March, but not in January and February.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Kyoto Pharmaceutical University, 1 Misasagi-Shichonocho, Yamashinaku, Kyoto, 607-8412 Japan.
authors.forename: Souleymane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Coulibaly
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Kyoto Pharmaceutical University, 1 Misasagi-Shichonocho, Yamashinaku, Kyoto, 607-8412 Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Minami
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Kyoto Pharmaceutical University, 1 Misasagi-Shichonocho, Yamashinaku, Kyoto, 607-8412 Japan.
authors.forename: Maho
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Kyoto Pharmaceutical University, 1 Misasagi-Shichonocho, Yamashinaku, Kyoto, 607-8412 Japan.
authors.forename: Tomohiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hasei
authors.affiliation: Tottori Prefectural Institute of Public Health and Environmental Science, 526-1 Minamidani, Yurihamacho, Tottori, 682-0704 Japan.
authors.forename: Tadashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Oro
authors.affiliation: Osaka City Institute of Public Health and Environmental Sciences, 8-34 Tojocho, Tennojiku, Osaka, 543-0026 Japan.
authors.forename: Kunihiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Funasaka
authors.affiliation: Osaka City Institute of Public Health and Environmental Sciences, 8-34 Tojocho, Tennojiku, Osaka, 543-0026 Japan.
authors.forename: Daichi
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Asakawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine and Rheumatology, Tottori University Faculty of Medicine, 36-1 Nishimachi, Yonago, 683-8504 Tottori Japan.
authors.forename: Masanari
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Kyoto Pharmaceutical University, 1 Misasagi-Shichonocho, Yamashinaku, Kyoto, 607-8412 Japan ; Department of Food and Nutrition, Faculty of Human Health, Sonoda Women's University, 7-29-1 Minamitsukaguchicho, Amagasaki, 661-8520 Hyogo Japan.
authors.forename: Naoko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Honda
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Kyoto Pharmaceutical University, 1 Misasagi-Shichonocho, Yamashinaku, Kyoto, 607-8412 Japan ; Graduate Division of Nutritional and Environmental Sciences, University of Shizuoka, 52-1 Yada, Surugaku, Shizuoka, 422-8526 Japan.
authors.forename: Keiji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wakabayashi
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Kyoto Pharmaceutical University, 1 Misasagi-Shichonocho, Yamashinaku, Kyoto, 607-8412 Japan.
authors.forename: Tetsushi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Watanabe
keywords: Ames test; Asian dust; Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon; Total suspended particles; Transboundary air pollution