Abstract
Workers in the zinc processing, for example, welding or hot-dip galvanizing, are exposed to aerosols consisting of particles and gases, including zinc oxide (ZnO), which can affect human health. In this study, we addressed the effects of short-term controlled exposure to nano-sized ZnO on the airway inflammatory markers in healthy volunteers. To this end, we determined the influence of ZnO inhalation on the content of zinc and biomarkers (leukotriene B4 (LTB4), peptide leukotrienes (LTC4/D4/E4), 8-iso-PGF2α, pH, and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2)) in exhaled breath condensate (EBC). Sixteen non-smoking subjects (8 females, 8 men) were exposed to filtered air (sham) or ZnO nanoparticles (0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 mg/m3) for 4 h. EBC samples were collected according to specific study design. We found that the peptide leukotrienes were below the limit of quantification (LOQ) in all the EBC samples. ZnO exposure showed no detectable effect on any other parameters investigated when comparing the two groups. The content of Zn in EBC was unaffected by ZnO inhalation at any concentration used. Therefore, we conclude that the evaluation of Zn and biomarker content in EBC would not be a suitable way to assess the exposure to inhaled ZnO.
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Acknowledgments
We are grateful to our volunteers for their participation. Our thanks go to Gerda Borowitzki, Anja Deckert, Maria Düser, Susanne Freundt, Jennifer Gili, Evelyn Heinze, Ursula Meurer, Melanie Ulbrich, and Susann Widmer of IPA for their excellent technical assistance.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest concerning this article.
Ethical Approval
All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were following the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Ruhr University Bochum in Germany.
Informed Consent
Written informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
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Monsé, C. et al. (2020). Human Inhalation Study with Zinc Oxide: Analysis of Zinc Levels and Biomarkers in Exhaled Breath Condensate. In: Pokorski, M. (eds) Medical Research and Innovation. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology(), vol 1324. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/5584_2020_572
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/5584_2020_572
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