Bio voc sampler

The PISCINA II study is an experimental investigation of the acute biological response to exposures induced by swimming in a chlorinated pool. As detailed elsewhere,31 (link) the study included volunteers, aged 18–40 years, non-smoking and non-professional swimmers, who swam for 40 min in a 25 m long indoor chlorinated pool in Barcelona, Spain, between June and December 2013. At the time of the experiment, participants were asked to complete a questionnaire providing information on sociodemographic, dietary habits, regular physical activity, medical and anthropometric factors.
DBPs including four THMs, CHCl₃, BDCM, DBCM and CHBr₃, were measured in exhaled breath at two time points: before swimmers entered the swimming pool and immediately after they exited the swimming pool, using the Bio-VOC Sampler (Markes International Ltd, UK). These chemicals were assessed by gas chromatography coupled to a mass spectrometer. Details on sampling collection and analysis have been published previously.31 (link)
For each of these 60 participants with full exposure and questionnaire data, two blood samples collected before and 2 hours after swimming were available. These were collected in a room detached from the swimming pool area and stored at −80°C.
Informed consent was provided by each participant before commencement of the experiment.

Exhaled breath can be used to assess volatile fraction of the systemic uptake, regardless of route of entry (presumably dermal in this case) (Pleil and Lindstrom, 1998 (link); Pleil, 2008 ). We measured the concentrations of combustion products in exhaled breath samples collected pre-, post-, and 6-h post-exposure. The firefighters were instructed to take a deep breath in and then forcefully exhale into the Bio-VOC™ sampler (Markes International, Wilmington, DE, USA) until they had fully expired their breath, permitting the sampler to collect alveolar air. We then pushed the collected alveolar air through Markes Carbograph 2TD/Carbograph 1TD thermal desorption tubes using a plunger. The samples were analyzed for aromatic hydrocarbons (benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, xylene, and styrene) and semi-volatile PAHs (naphthalene, anthracene, phenanthrene, fluoranthene, and pyrene) using a gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) method described in Sobus et al. (2008) (link).