Aero-dispersed mutagenicity attributed to particulate and semi volatile phase in an urban environment

Commonly the atmospheric pollution research is focussed on particulate indicators especially when mutagenicity was studied. On the other hand the volatile and semi-volatile compounds no adsorbed on to the particles can be genotoxic and mutagenic. Moreover some mutagenic compounds, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, are present both in the particulate and in the gas-phase in according to chemical conditions. This work is focussed on the assessing of the total mutagenicity shifting the gas-phase and particulate phase, during two seasons, in Turin. Two sampling sessions are conducted for total particulate matter and gas-phase pollutants. Moreover meteorological and usual air pollution monitoring data were collected at the same sampling station. The Salmonella assay using the strains TA98 and YG1021 was conducted on each organic extract. The mean level of total suspended particles, PM10 and PM2.5 were 73.63 ± 26.94, 42.85 ± 26.75 and 31.55 ± 26.35 μg m−3. The observed mutagenicity was PM induced YG1021 > PM induced TA98 > PM induced TA98+S9 ≫ non-particle induced YG1021 > non-particle induced TA98 > non-particle induced TA98+S9. The multivariate regression is significant when we consider air pollution and meteorological indicators and chemical conditions as predictors.