Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are ubiquitous environmental contaminants known to be hazardous to human health. Pine needles and mosses are useful bio-indicators for assessing PAH pollutions; however, the differences in their PAH uptake mechanisms have not been sufficiently discussed. In this study, the properties of pine needles and mosses as bio-indicators of PAHs were investigated o...

The indoor and outdoor concentrations of 30 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were measured in 55 nonsmoking residences in three urban areas during June 1999-May 2000. The data represent the subset of samples collected within the Relationship of Indoor, Outdoor, and Personal Air study (RIOPA). The study collected samples from homes in Los Angeles, CA, Houston, TX, and Elizabeth, NJ. In th...

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are ubiquitous environmental carcinogens and metabolized by a variety of xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes such as cytochrome P450 (P450 or CYP), epoxide hydrolase, glutathione transferase, UDP-glucuronosyltransferase, sulfotransferase, NAD(P)H quinone oxidoreductase 1, and aldo-keto reductase. These enzymes mainly participate in the conversion of PAHs to m...

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a diverse group of widespread environmental pollutants, some of which have been found to be estrogenic or antiestrogenic. Recent data have shown that hydroxylated PAH metabolites may be responsible for the estrogenic effects of some PAHs. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of several PAHs, as well as their monohydroxylated metabo...

Since the finding in the 1930s, a large number of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) of different structures have been tested for potential tumorigenicity. Structure-activity relationships of halo-PAHs have been investigated to determine the regions of a PAH that may be involved in cancer initiation. From these studies, a number of halo-PAHs were found to be tumorigenic in experimental ani...

With oil pollution recognized as a major threat to British Columbia's recovering sea otter (Enhydra lutris) population, it is important to distinguish acute from chronic exposures to oil constituent groups in this marine mammal. Concentrations and patterns of alkanes and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were determined in blood samples from 29 live-captured sea otters in two coastal area...

The loading and removal efficiency of 16 US EPA polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were examined in an inverted A²/O wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) located in an urban area in China. The total PAH concentrations were 554.3 to 723.2 ng/L in the influent and 189.6 to 262.7 ng/L in the effluent. The removal efficiencies of ∑PAHs in the dissolved phase ranged from 63 to 69%, with the highes...

AIMS Two common reasons to explain slow environmental biodegradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), namely lack of appropriate carbon sources for microbial growth and limited bioavailability of PAHs, were tested in a laboratory bioassay using a creosote-contaminated soil. METHODS AND RESULTS The soil, containing a total of 8 mg g-1 of 16 PAHs, was sieved and incubated in bottles ...

We used catalysed reported deposition - fluorescence in situ hybridization (CARD-FISH) to analyse changes in the abundance of the bacterial groups Alphaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria and Bacteroidetes, and of hydrocarbon-degrading Cycloclasticus bacteria in mesocosms that had received polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) additions. The effects of PAHs were assessed under four contrastin...