CORRELATION BETWEEN THE AMOUNTS OF POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC-HYDROCARBONS AND MUTAGENICITY OF AIRBORNE PARTICULATE SAMPLES FROM TAICHUNG CITY, TAIWAN

Taichung is the largest city in the central part of Taiwan, and its ai r pollution problems are similar to those in other large cities around the world. To evaluate the potential of the air pollution and identif y major pollutant sources in this city, 181 airborne particulate sampl es were collected biweekly from seven locations around Taichung over a n entire year. The mutagenicity of acetone extracts of the air samples was evaluated using the Salmonella/microsomal test with Salmonella ty phimurium TA98 in the presence and absence of S9 mixtures. The air sam ples from September 1994 showed the highest direct and indirect mutage nicity among the 12 months, whereas those from October and June had th e lowest direct and indirect mutagenicity, respectively. To elucidate the correlation between mutagenicity and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarb ons (PAHs), high-performance liquid chromatography was used to determi ne the amount of each of 10 PAHs in the air samples. Among the 10 PAHs , the monthly average amount of B[g,h,i]P in the samples was the highe st, followed by B[a]FA, B[a]P, and B[k]FA. Linear regression analysis showed a positive correlation between monthly average total amounts of PAHs and indirect mutagenicity. The monthly average amount of B[g,h,i ]P was correlated more with indirect mutagenicity than with other PAHs . B[g,h,i]P is an indicator PAH emitted from both diesel and gasoline engine exhaust. Thus, we suggest that mobile air pollutant sources in Taichung City may be more significant than stationary ones. Moreover, B[g,h,i]P seems to act as a mutagenicity indicator compound in air sam ples from Taichung City. (C) 1998 Academic Press.