Abstract
Diesel exhaust consists of a complex mixture of chemicals which contain known genotoxicants, one of which is polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) which may be associated with adverse respiratory health outcomes. This study aimed to evaluate the distribution patterns of PAHs (anthracene, naphthalene, fluorene, phenanthrene, cyclopentaphenanthrene, pyrene, fluoranthene, benzanthracene, chrysene, benzo(e)pyrene, benzoacephenanthrylene, and benzo(a)pyrene) in serum collected from asthmatic and healthy control children. PAH serum levels were measured in samples collected from children who lived in 11 different locations in/round Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (Al-yarmouk, Usaibi, Sultana Al-kadema, Omrrojam, Kof, Janoob Dawdmi, Guberah, Arabbuah, Al-mozahemyah, Iskan Al-mazzer, and Al-gharabi) during the period 2010-2011. Our results showed that the highest total mean concentrations of PAH were found in serum samples collected from people who lived in Sultana Aljadhida, Almozahemyah, Guberah, and Omrrojam and were 663.9, 486.17, 412.18, and 258.6 ng ml(-1), respectively. The most prevalent PAHs in serum samples were naphthalene, bezanthracene, benzoacephenanthrylene, phenanthrene, chrysene, and benzo(a)pyrene with a frequency that ranged from 54.5 to 90.9 % positive samples. A close monitoring of PAH pollution is strongly recommended, especially in food and plant samples, because of their high bioaccumulation capacity.