Ambient air pollutants in upper Silesia: partial chemical composition and biological activity.

The air monitoring system in Upper Silesia has provided abundant data on airborne pollutants. Air quality in this region is bad: a concentration of several gases, volatile compounds, metals, and complex mixtures of organic compounds carried by small particulate matter exceeds both daily and yearly admissible levels. About 250 individual polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbonds (PAHs) were identified in airborne pollutants, and hundreds of not identified compounds are seen on gas chromatographic profiles as minor peaks. Among PAHs are present compounds with known carcinogenic potency for humans. Seasonal variation with distinctly lower concentration of pollutants in summer than in winter was noticed. Fifteen PAHs including benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) determined by GC-MS method in 20 measuring points showed constant relative proportions. Thus B[a]P could be used as a representative compound for other PAHs. In urban areas, a core of Silesia values for B[a]P concentration ranged from 60 to 90 ng/m3 in winter to 5 to 20 micrograms/m in summer. Mutagenicity tested on Salmonella strains showed seasonal variation with distinctly higher values in winter. Environmentally exposed humans showed a higher level of PAH-DNA adducts in WBC than the control population from rural area. Total organic extract of small particulate matter exhibited both direct and indirect mutagenic activity, induced formation of micronuclei in bone marrow cells of BALB/c mice, induced chromosomal rearrangements, and increased sister chromatid exchange index.