POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS CONCENTRATION AND MUTAGENIC EFFECTS OF DUST IN OUTDOOR ENVIRONMENT IN SILESIAN REGION

Quality and quantity of pollution depend on the combusted fuels and industrial technologies, the season of the year and meteorological conditions. Dust pollution of the air consists of diverse chemical organic and inorganic substances. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) mixture and their nitric, amin, oxidated and chlorated derivatives, which are found in all dust fractions, are particularly dangerous to human health and exert mutagenic effects. PAHs are measured and analyzed using liquid chromatography, which is one of the most popular technique in analytical chemistry. Standard Ames test on Salmonella strain TA98 and YG1041 was used to assess mutagenic properties of dust. Samples of dust were collected on glass fiber filters by aspiration instrument with air flow 1 m3/min. during the autumn in six cities in Silesian Region. Extraction of pollution was carried out in Soxhlet instrument using dichlorometane in the ventilated chamber. There was majority of indirect mutagenic substances (requiring metabolic activation) in studied samples. Mutagenic activity of dust fractions in outdoor air was caused by the PAHs concentrations, and particularly by benzo(a)pyrene, what was confirmed by HPLC