Measurement of the oxidative potential of PM2.5 and its constituents: The effect of extraction solvent and filter type

Abstract

The capacity of Particulate Matter (PM) to oxidise target molecules, defined as its oxidative potential (OP), has been proposed as a biologically more relevant metric than PM mass. Different assays exist for measuring OP and their methodologies vary in the choice of extraction solvent and filter type. Little is known about the impact of extraction and filter type on reported OP. Four a-cellular assays; electron spin resonance (ESR), dithiothreitol (DTT), ascorbate acid depletion (AA) and reductive acridinium triggering (CRAT) assay were chosen to evaluate whether these differences affect the OP measurement, the correlation between OP from different assays and the association with PM chemical composition. We analysed 15 urban 48–72 h PM 2.5 samples collected on quartz and Teflon filters. The choice of extraction solvent had only a significant effect on OP DTT , while all OP measures for quartz filters were heavily attenuated. OP values derived from quartz were, however, highly correlated with those derived from Teflon. OP DTT correlated highly with OP CRAT , and OP ESR correlated highly with OP AA . These correlations were affected by the choice of filter type. Correlations between OP and PM chemical composition were not affected by filter type and extraction solvent. These findings indicate that the measurement of relative OP reactivity is not greatly influenced by filter type and extraction solvent for the investigated assays. This robustness is also promising for exploratory use in monitoring and subsequent epidemiological studies. • We examined effects of filter type and extraction solvent on oxidative potential (OP). • Extraction solvent had a significant effect on OP DTT , but not on OP ESR or OP AA . • OP values measured from quartz filter extracts were heavily attenuated for all assays. • However, OP values from quartz filters were highly correlated with those from Teflon. • OP measured with ESR direct method showed promising results.