Laia Font-Ribera1, Esther Marco2, Joan O Grimalt2, Susana Pastor3, Ricard Marcos3, Lilianne Abramsson-Zetterberg4, Marie Pedersen5, Tamara Grummt6, Ralf Junek6, Esther Barreiro7, Dick Heederik8, Jack Spithoven8, Rossana Critelli9, Alessio Naccarati10, Christina Schmalz11, Christian Zwiener11, Jiaqi Liu12, Xiangru Zhang12, William Mitch13, Esther Gracia-Lavedan14, Lourdes Arjona1, Jeroen de Bont14, Lluïsa Tarès14, Paolo Vineis15, Manolis Kogevinas1, Cristina M Villanueva16. 1. ISGlobal, Barcelona, Spain; Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain; Consortium for Biomedical Research in Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Carlos III Institute of Health, Madrid, Spain; IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute), Barcelona, Spain. 2. Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDÆA-CSIC), Barcelona, Spain. 3. Consortium for Biomedical Research in Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Carlos III Institute of Health, Madrid, Spain; Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Barcelona, Spain. 4. National Food Administration, Uppsala, Sweden. 5. Department of Public Health, Section of Epidemiology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark; Danish Cancer Society Research Center, Diet, Genes and Environment, Copenhagen, Denmark. 6. German Environment Agency, Bad Elster, Germany. 7. Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain; Pulmonology Department-Lung Cancer & Muscle Research Group, IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute), Barcelona, Spain; CIBER de Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES), Barcelona, Spain. 8. Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS), Utrecht, the Netherlands. 9. Italian Institute for Genomic Medicine (IIGM), Torino, Italy; Department of Medical Science, University of Turin, Turin, Italy. 10. Italian Institute for Genomic Medicine (IIGM), Torino, Italy. 11. Environmental Analytical Chemistry, Center for Applied Geoscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany. 12. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China. 13. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, USA. 14. ISGlobal, Barcelona, Spain; Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain; Consortium for Biomedical Research in Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Carlos III Institute of Health, Madrid, Spain. 15. School of Public Health, Imperial College London, UK. 16. ISGlobal, Barcelona, Spain; Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain; Consortium for Biomedical Research in Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Carlos III Institute of Health, Madrid, Spain; IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute), Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: cristina.villanueva@isglobal.org.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Swimming in pools is a healthy activity that entails exposure to disinfection by-products (DBPs), some of which are irritant and genotoxic. OBJECTIVES: We evaluated exposure to DBPs during swimming in a chlorinated pool and the association with short-term changes in genotoxicity and lung epithelium permeability biomarkers. METHODS: Non-smoker adults (N = 116) swimming 40 min in an indoor pool were included. We measured a range of biomarkers before and at different times after swimming: trihalomethanes (THMs) in exhaled breath (5 min), trichloroacetic acid (TCAA) in urine (30 min), micronuclei in lymphocytes (1 h), serum club cell protein (CC16) (1 h), urine mutagenicity (2 h) and micronuclei in reticulocytes (4 days in a subset, N = 19). Several DBPs in water and trichloramine in air were measured, and physical activity was extensively assessed. We estimated interactions with polymorphisms in genes related to DBP metabolism. RESULTS: Median level of chloroform, brominated and total THMs in water was 37.3, 9.5 and 48.5, μg/L, respectively, and trichloramine in air was 472.6 μg/m3. Median exhaled chloroform, brominated and total THMs increased after swimming by 10.9, 2.6 and 13.4, μg/m3, respectively. Creatinine-adjusted urinary TCAA increased by 3.1 μmol/mol. Micronuclei in lymphocytes and reticulocytes, urine mutagenicity and serum CC16 levels remained unchanged after swimming. Spearman correlation coefficients showed no association between DBP exposure and micronuclei in lymphocytes, urine mutagenicity and CC16. Moderate associations were observed for micronuclei in reticulocytes and DBP exposure. CONCLUSIONS: The unchanged levels of the short-term effect biomarkers after swimming and null associations with personal estimates of exposure to DBPs suggest no measurable effect on genotoxicity in lymphocytes, urine mutagenicity and lung epithelium permeability at the observed exposure levels. The moderate associations with micronuclei in reticulocytes require cautious interpretation given the reduced sample size.
BACKGROUND: Swimming in pools is a healthy activity that entails exposure to disinfection by-products (DBPs), some of which are irritant and genotoxic. OBJECTIVES: We evaluated exposure to DBPs during swimming in a chlorinated pool and the association with short-term changes in genotoxicity and lung epithelium permeability biomarkers. METHODS: Non-smoker adults (N = 116) swimming 40 min in an indoor pool were included. We measured a range of biomarkers before and at different times after swimming: trihalomethanes (THMs) in exhaled breath (5 min), trichloroacetic acid (TCAA) in urine (30 min), micronuclei in lymphocytes (1 h), serum club cell protein (CC16) (1 h), urine mutagenicity (2 h) and micronuclei in reticulocytes (4 days in a subset, N = 19). Several DBPs in water and trichloramine in air were measured, and physical activity was extensively assessed. We estimated interactions with polymorphisms in genes related to DBP metabolism. RESULTS: Median level of chloroform, brominated and total THMs in water was 37.3, 9.5 and 48.5, μg/L, respectively, and trichloramine in air was 472.6 μg/m3. Median exhaled chloroform, brominated and total THMs increased after swimming by 10.9, 2.6 and 13.4, μg/m3, respectively. Creatinine-adjusted urinary TCAA increased by 3.1 μmol/mol. Micronuclei in lymphocytes and reticulocytes, urine mutagenicity and serum CC16 levels remained unchanged after swimming. Spearman correlation coefficients showed no association between DBP exposure and micronuclei in lymphocytes, urine mutagenicity and CC16. Moderate associations were observed for micronuclei in reticulocytes and DBP exposure. CONCLUSIONS: The unchanged levels of the short-term effect biomarkers after swimming and null associations with personal estimates of exposure to DBPs suggest no measurable effect on genotoxicity in lymphocytes, urine mutagenicity and lung epithelium permeability at the observed exposure levels. The moderate associations with micronuclei in reticulocytes require cautious interpretation given the reduced sample size.
Authors: Ana Tavares; Kukka Aimonen; Sophie Ndaw; Aleksandra Fučić; Julia Catalán; Radu Corneliu Duca; Lode Godderis; Bruno C Gomes; Beata Janasik; Carina Ladeira; Henriqueta Louro; Sónia Namorado; An Van Nieuwenhuyse; Hannu Norppa; Paul T J Scheepers; Célia Ventura; Jelle Verdonck; Susana Viegas; Wojciech Wasowicz; Tiina Santonen; Maria João Silva Journal: Toxics Date: 2022-08-18