Portable Analyzer for On-site Monitoring of Worker Exposure to Toxic Metals

用于现场监测工人接触有毒金属的便携式分析仪

• 批准号: 7130158
• 负责人: Wassana Yantasee
• 金额: $ 19.7万
• 依托单位: BATTELLE PACIFIC NORTHWEST LABORATORIES
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-09-01 至 2008-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7130158
• 关键词: biomedical equipment development; cadmium; environmental exposure; laboratory rat; lead; mercury; metal poisoning; monitoring device; occupational disease /disorder; occupational hazard; occupational health /safety; portable biomedical equipment; urinalysis

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Large numbers of industrial workers are regularly exposed to toxic heavy metals like cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), and mercury (Hg), which are known to induce various diseases that are detrimental to human health. In order to monitor workers for multiple toxic metal exposures and to ensure that these exposures are below a threshold for inducing permanent damage to various organ systems, a portable analyzer for real-time, onsite, non-invasive monitoring of workers for toxic metal exposure will be developed using a novel approach developed by our research group at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). The analyzer will be based on the built-in preconcentration of cadmium, lead, and mercury present in urine by the highly efficient sorbent materials, created at PNNL, prior to their voltammetric quantitation. Urine is universally recognized as one of the best non-invasive matrix to assess both acute and ongoing exposures to a broad range of many toxic metals. The sorbent materials are the marriage of self-assembled functionalization and extremely high surface area silia and are designed to be highly specific for the metal ions even in 1) complex urine matrix, 2) urine with elevated level of proteins resulting from renal diseases, and 3) urine with elevated level of metal-chelates resulting from chelation administration. Thus our sensors do not require toxic mercury for metal ion preconcentration unlike conventional electrochemical sensors. Delivery of samples and reagents will be based on programmable sequential injection with turbulent flow-onto a design that minimizes the sensor fouling caused by proteins. The analyzer will reduce the time and costs of monitoring worker exposure and clinical diagnosis. It represents the next-generation of metal ion analyzer because of its affordability, low power consumption, portability, full automation, and easy operation, which are better than the traditional analytical methods like AAS and ICP-MS. This project directly responds to PA-04-030 of NIOSH/R21 for the development of research tools and approaches for exposure assessment. The portable analyzer will enable (1) better identification of at-risk workers and development of appropriate control and intervention strategies, (2) understanding of exposure-response relationships, and (3) improvement of baseline data for a standard setting and risk assessment, all of which have been identified as important by the Exposure Assessment Methods (EAM) team commissioned by NIOSH's National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA). Once successful, the portable analyzer can be easily extended to the analysis of other toxic metal ions such as chromium, arsenic, lanthanides, and actinides by using combination of other sorbent materials that have already been created to be specific for the sorption of such analytes. Ultimately, the sensor for metal ions will be combined with the sensor for creatinine so that the exposure monitoring can be performed with "spot" urine instead of 24-hr urine.

描述（由申请人提供）：大量产业工人经常接触镉（Cd）、铅（Pb）和汞（Hg）等有毒重金属，已知这些重金属会诱发各种对人类健康有害的疾病。为了监测工人的多种有毒金属暴露情况，并确保这些暴露低于对各种器官系统造成永久性损害的阈值，一种用于实时、现场、非侵入性监测工人有毒金属暴露情况的便携式分析仪将使用我们太平洋西北国家实验室 (PNNL) 研究小组开发的新颖方法进行开发。该分析仪将基于在伏安定量之前通过 PNNL 创建的高效吸附剂材料对尿液中存在的镉、铅和汞进行内置预浓缩。尿液被普遍认为是评估多种有毒金属的急性和持续暴露的最佳非侵入性基质之一。吸附剂材料是自组装功能化和极高表面积二氧化硅的结合，旨在对金属离子具有高度特异性，即使在 1) 复杂的尿液基质中，2) 因肾脏疾病导致蛋白质水平升高的尿液中，以及3) 由于螯合给药而导致尿液中金属螯合物水平升高。因此，与传统电化学传感器不同，我们的传感器不需要有毒汞来预富集金属离子。样品和试剂的输送将基于可编程顺序注射和湍流设计，最大限度地减少蛋白质引起的传感器污染。该分析仪将减少监测工人暴露和临床诊断的时间和成本。它代表了下一代金属离子分析仪，具有经济实惠、低功耗、便携、全自动化、操作简便等特点，优于AAS、ICP-MS等传统分析方法。该项目直接响应 NIOSH/R21 的 PA-04-030，开发暴露评估的研究工具和方法。便携式分析仪将能够（1）更好地识别高风险工人并制定适当的控制和干预策略，（2）了解暴露-反应关系，以及（3）改进标准设置和风险评估的基线数据，所有这些均已被 NIOSH 国家职业研究议程 (NORA) 委托的暴露评估方法 (EAM) 团队认定为重要。一旦成功，便携式分析仪可以通过使用已经专门用于吸附此类分析物的其他吸附剂材料的组合，轻松扩展到其他有毒金属离子的分析，例如铬、砷、镧系元素和锕系元素。最终，金属离子传感器将与肌酐传感器结合在一起，以便可以使用“点”尿液而不是 24 小时尿液进行暴露监测。