Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a large group of organic compounds with two or more fused aromatic rings. They have a relatively low solubility in water, but are highly lipophilic. Most of the PAHs with low vapour pressure in the air are adsorbed on particles. When dissolved in water or adsorbed on particulate matter, PAHs can undergo photodecomposition when exposed to ultraviolet l...

Sediment extracts from a creek in the Neckar river basin (Germany), which received the discharge of treated hospital wastewater, were found to exhibit strong aromatic hydrocarbon (Ah) receptor-mediated effects in a rainbow trout liver cell line (RTL-WI) as well as high mutagenicity in the Salmonella/microsome assay after fractionation. The crude extract did not exhibit a clear mutagenic respons...

The concentrations of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) were determined in various foodstuffs randomly purchased in Catalonia (Spain) during November and December of 2008. Dietary intake of PAH was subsequently estimated according to age and sex for the general population of Catalonia. The current results were compared with those of previous studies performed in 2000 and 2006. The highe...

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are ubiquitous organic pollutants in urban environments and are considered as the priority pollutants by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The objective of this study was to determine the depth-wise distribution (0–15, 15–30, and 30–45 cm) of 16 PAHs compounds in four urban soils of different land uses (residential, public parks, public buildings,...

The global atmospheric distribution and long-range transport (LRT) potential of three polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) - anthracene, fluoranthene and benzo[a]pyrene - are studied. The model used is a global aerosol-chemistry-transport-model, which is based on an atmospheric general circulation model. The model includes an in-built dynamic aerosol model coupled to two-dimensional surface c...

The International Standardization Organization recently launched a soil toxicity test with snails (Helix aspersa). We assessed the sensitivity of this test for seven polycyclic aromatic compounds. Control animals had 100% survival and low variability for growth measurements. Maximum exposure concentrations of 2800 mg/kg (4000 mg/kg for acridine) had no effect on survival. Similarly, growth (bio...

While the equilibrium partitioning (EqP) method has been demonstrated to effectively predict adverse effects of nonionic organic chemicals in sediment on benthic organisms by toxicity tests, only a limited number studies have performed both water-only and whole-sediment tests using same species verified validity EqP-based assessment. To further examine EqP for application wide range hydrophobic...

Breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP/ABCG2) is known to actively transport various anticancer drugs and to restrict the uptake of the food carcinogen 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine from the gut lumen. The present study reveals that BCRP is involved in the transport of phase-2 metabolites of the carcinogen benzo[a]pyrene (BP) in the human intestinal cell line Caco-2. Treatment...

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were detected in different types of PAH-containing samples collected Lake Baikal during wildfires the adjacent areas. The set studied included following: (i) water from upper layer (5 m); (ii) surface microlayer; (iii) lake tributaries; (iv) deep layers (400 and (v) aerosol near-water layer. Ten PAHs samples: naphthalene, 1-methylnaphthalene, 2-methylnaph...