Biological toxicity risk assessment of two potential neutral carbon diesel fuel substitutes

Silvana Arias; Verónica Estrada; Isabel C Ortiz; Francisco J Molina; John R Agudelo

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2022.119677

Biological toxicity risk assessment of two potential neutral carbon diesel fuel substitutes

Environ Pollut. 2022 Sep 1:308:119677. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2022.119677. Epub 2022 Jun 23.

Authors

Silvana Arias¹, Verónica Estrada², Isabel C Ortiz², Francisco J Molina³, John R Agudelo⁴

Affiliations

¹ Grupo de Investigación en Gestión y Modelación Ambiental-GAIA, Escuela Ambiental, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad de Antioquia UdeA, Calle 70 No. 52-21, Medellín, Colombia; Grupo de Manejo Eficiente de la Energía -GIMEL, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad de Antioquia UdeA, Calle 70 No. 52-21, Medellín, Colombia. Electronic address: silvana.arias@udea.edu.co.
² Grupo de Investigación Biología de Sistemas, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, UPB, Calle 78B 72A - 109, Medellín, Colombia.
³ Grupo de Investigación en Gestión y Modelación Ambiental-GAIA, Escuela Ambiental, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad de Antioquia UdeA, Calle 70 No. 52-21, Medellín, Colombia.
⁴ Grupo de Manejo Eficiente de la Energía -GIMEL, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad de Antioquia UdeA, Calle 70 No. 52-21, Medellín, Colombia.

PMID: 35753542
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2022.119677

Abstract

We investigated the biological response of soluble organic fraction (SOF) and water-soluble fraction (WSF) extracted from particulate matter (PM) emitted by an automotive diesel engine operating in a representative urban driving condition. The engine was fueled with ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD), and its binary blends by volume with 13% of butanol (Bu13), and with hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) at 13% (HVO13) and 20% (HVO20). Cytotoxicity, genotoxicity, oxidative DNA damage and ecotoxicity tests were carried out, and 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) expressed as tbenzo(a)pyrene total toxicity equivalent (BaP-TEQ) were also analyzed. The Hepatocarcinoma epithelial cell line (HepG2) was exposed to SOF for 24 h and analyzed using comet assay, with the inclusion of formamidopyrimidine DNA glycosylase (FPG) and endonuclease III (Endo III) to recognize oxidized DNA bases. The WSF was evaluated through acute ecotoxicity tests with the aquatic microcrustacean Daphnia pulex (D. Pulex). Results showed that there was no cytotoxic activity for all tested SOF concentrations. Genotoxic responses by all the SOF samples were at same level, except for the HVO13 which was weaker in the absence of the enzymes. The addition of the FPG and Endo III enzymes resulted in a significant increase in the comet tail, indicating that the DNA damage from SOF for all tested fuel blends involves oxidative damage including a higher level of oxidized purines for ULSD and Bu13 in comparison with HVO blends, but the oxidized pyrimidines for HVO blends were slightly higher compared to Bu13. The WSF did not show acute ecotoxicity for any of the fuels. Unlike other samples, Bu13-derived particles significantly increase the BaP-TEQ. The contribution to the genotoxic activity and oxidative DNA from SOF was not correlated to BaP-TEQ, which means that the biological activity of PM might be affected also by other toxic compounds present in particulate phase.

Keywords: Diesel particulate matter; Ecotoxicity; Genotoxicity; Oxidative DNA damage; PAH; Renewable fuels.

MeSH terms

Air Pollutants*
Biofuels / analysis
Carbon
DNA / metabolism
Gasoline / analysis
Gasoline / toxicity
Particulate Matter / analysis
Particulate Matter / toxicity
Plant Oils
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons* / analysis
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons* / toxicity
Risk Assessment
Vehicle Emissions / analysis
Vehicle Emissions / toxicity

Substances

Air Pollutants
Biofuels
Gasoline
Particulate Matter
Plant Oils
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons
Vehicle Emissions
Carbon
DNA