The Measurement of the Dermal Bioavailability of Potentially Harmful Organic Soil Contaminants

Currently only one value is used to predict the human health risk of the dermal absorption of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) from soil for contaminated land risk assessments. Research has shown that soil PAH dermal bioavailability differs between soils, and additionally that differences in s...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Lort, Jack A. L.
Format: Thesis (University of Nottingham only)
Language:English
Published: 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/69705/
_version_ 1848800580936400896
author Lort, Jack A. L.
author_facet Lort, Jack A. L.
author_sort Lort, Jack A. L.
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Currently only one value is used to predict the human health risk of the dermal absorption of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) from soil for contaminated land risk assessments. Research has shown that soil PAH dermal bioavailability differs between soils, and additionally that differences in skin physiology results in variation in the quantity of PAH absorbed. The current PAH dermal bioavailability value used in risk assessments was generated using soil spiked with radiolabelled PAH in a solvent, overestimating PAH soil mobility and therefore creating uncertainty in the dermal bioavailability value. Consequently, this study aims to develop a lab-based method to quantify the in vitro dermal absorption of native PAH from ‘real-world’ soils to produce soil-specific PAH dermal bioavailability values. PAH dermal bioavailability is defined here as: “The fraction of the PAH concentration that is absorbed into and/or through the skin”. Building on previous research, this study used a vertical diffusion cell experimental set-up, with an artificial skin membrane as a skin substitute, to reduce variability in PAH absorption data. PAH extraction and quantification methods were determined for: the soil, membrane (representative skin) and receptor solution (representative systemic circulation), in order to quantify the concentration of PAH dermally absorbed. The artificial membrane was validated by comparing the absorption rate of PAH from a solvent through the membrane, to published studies that had used excised human skin. The artificial membrane produced PAH absorption rates within the published values. The developed method was used to quantify the dermal absorption of PAH from contaminated soils. The results indicate that the soil-specific dermal absorption of native PAH is much lower than the current dermal bioavailability value (mean 97.5% reduction), and PAH dermal absorption varies between soils. Further research is needed to identify the key soil factors that impact soil PAH dermal bioavailability.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T20:53:50Z
format Thesis (University of Nottingham only)
id nottingham-69705
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
institution_category Local University
language English
last_indexed 2025-11-14T20:53:50Z
publishDate 2022
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling nottingham-697052024-12-16T04:30:06Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/69705/ The Measurement of the Dermal Bioavailability of Potentially Harmful Organic Soil Contaminants Lort, Jack A. L. Currently only one value is used to predict the human health risk of the dermal absorption of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) from soil for contaminated land risk assessments. Research has shown that soil PAH dermal bioavailability differs between soils, and additionally that differences in skin physiology results in variation in the quantity of PAH absorbed. The current PAH dermal bioavailability value used in risk assessments was generated using soil spiked with radiolabelled PAH in a solvent, overestimating PAH soil mobility and therefore creating uncertainty in the dermal bioavailability value. Consequently, this study aims to develop a lab-based method to quantify the in vitro dermal absorption of native PAH from ‘real-world’ soils to produce soil-specific PAH dermal bioavailability values. PAH dermal bioavailability is defined here as: “The fraction of the PAH concentration that is absorbed into and/or through the skin”. Building on previous research, this study used a vertical diffusion cell experimental set-up, with an artificial skin membrane as a skin substitute, to reduce variability in PAH absorption data. PAH extraction and quantification methods were determined for: the soil, membrane (representative skin) and receptor solution (representative systemic circulation), in order to quantify the concentration of PAH dermally absorbed. The artificial membrane was validated by comparing the absorption rate of PAH from a solvent through the membrane, to published studies that had used excised human skin. The artificial membrane produced PAH absorption rates within the published values. The developed method was used to quantify the dermal absorption of PAH from contaminated soils. The results indicate that the soil-specific dermal absorption of native PAH is much lower than the current dermal bioavailability value (mean 97.5% reduction), and PAH dermal absorption varies between soils. Further research is needed to identify the key soil factors that impact soil PAH dermal bioavailability. 2022-12-16 Thesis (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en cc_by https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/69705/1/Jack%20Lort%20Thesis%20-%20Measuring%20the%20Dermal%20Absorption%20of%20PAH%20from%20Contaminated%20Soils.pdf Lort, Jack A. L. (2022) The Measurement of the Dermal Bioavailability of Potentially Harmful Organic Soil Contaminants. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham. polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons PAH dermal bioavailability contaminated land human health method development risk assessment soil contaminants
spellingShingle polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
PAH
dermal bioavailability
contaminated land
human health
method development
risk assessment
soil contaminants
Lort, Jack A. L.
The Measurement of the Dermal Bioavailability of Potentially Harmful Organic Soil Contaminants
title The Measurement of the Dermal Bioavailability of Potentially Harmful Organic Soil Contaminants
title_full The Measurement of the Dermal Bioavailability of Potentially Harmful Organic Soil Contaminants
title_fullStr The Measurement of the Dermal Bioavailability of Potentially Harmful Organic Soil Contaminants
title_full_unstemmed The Measurement of the Dermal Bioavailability of Potentially Harmful Organic Soil Contaminants
title_short The Measurement of the Dermal Bioavailability of Potentially Harmful Organic Soil Contaminants
title_sort measurement of the dermal bioavailability of potentially harmful organic soil contaminants
topic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
PAH
dermal bioavailability
contaminated land
human health
method development
risk assessment
soil contaminants
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/69705/