Quantification of Ergosterol and 3-Hydroxy Fatty Acids in Settled House Dust by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry: Comparison with Fungal Culture and Determination of Endotoxin by a Limulus Amebocyte Lysate Assay

Details

• Personal Author:
  Burge H ; Larsson L ; Milton D ; Saraf A
• Description:
  Ergosterol and 3-hydroxy fatty acids, chemical markers for fungal biomass and the endotoxin of gram-negative bacteria, respectively, may be useful in studies of health effects of organic dusts, including domestic house dust. This paper reports a method for the combined determination of ergosterol and 3-hydroxy fatty acids in a single dust sample and a comparison of these chemical biomarkers determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry with results from fungal culture and Limulus assay. Analyses of replicate house dust samples resulted in correlations of 0.91 (ergosterol in six replicates; P < 0.01) and 0.94 (3-hydroxy fatty acids in nine replicates; P < 0.001). The amounts of ergosterol (range, 2 to 16.5 ng/mg of dust) correlated with those of total culturable fungi (range, 6 to 1,400 CFU/mg of dust) in 17 samples, (r = 0.65; P < 0.005). The amounts of endotoxin (range, 11 to 243 endotoxin units/mg of dust) measured with a modified chromogenic Limulus assay correlated with those of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) determined from 3-hydroxy fatty acid analysis of 15 samples. The correlation coefficient depended on the chain lengths of 3-hydroxy acids used to compute the LPS content. The correlation was high (r = 0.88 +/- 0.01; P < 0.001) when fatty acid chains of 10 to 14 carbon atoms were included; the correlation was much lower when hydroxy acids of 16- or 18-carbon chains were included. In conclusion, the results of the described extraction and analysis procedure for ergosterol and 3-hydroxy fatty acids are reproducible, and the results can be correlated with fungal culture and endotoxin activity of organic dust samples. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Pollutants, Occupational Biomarkers Dust Endotoxins Environment Epidemiology Occupational Health Particulate Matter Safety Workplace
• Keywords:
  Airborne Particles Bacteria Bacterial Cultures Dust Particles Dusts Environmental Factors Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry Organic Dusts Work Environment
• ISSN:
  0099-2240
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  63
• Issue:
  7
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20024404
• Citation:
  Appl Environ Microbiol 1997 Jul; 63(7):2554-2559
• Contact Point Address:
  Lennart Larsson, Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Lund, Solvegatan 23, 223 62, Lund, Sweden
• Email:
  Lennart.Larsson@mm.lu.se
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1997
• Performing Organization:
  Harvard University, Boston, MA
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  19940930
• Source Full Name:
  Applied and Environmental Microbiology
• End Date:
  19970929
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:557697f710e36ca15a79e27135eca447e57727904a2a700b3181c1a45e0e85f2594fe13cf4a8506fdd2d0a30f3d58905eaa67ddee8155a01cf142cd09885135f
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/196221/cdc_196221_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 228.42 KB ]