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Development and application of a model (ExDoM) for calculating the respiratory tract dose and retention of particles under variable exposure conditions

Lazaridis Michalis, Victoria Aleksandropoulou

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Summary

The ExDoM is a model for calculating the human exposure and the deposition, dose, clearance, and finally retention of aerosol particles in the respiratory tract at specific times during and after exposure, under variable exposure conditions. Specifically, the model incorporates an exposure module which allows the user to set variable or static exposure conditions (exposure concentration, physical exertion levels, and different environments) or in the case of the physical exertion levels and exposure environment to choose from a list of typical exposure scenarios (activity pattern, exposure environment, and physical exertion level). The exposure concentration can refer to total particulate matter (PM) concentration or chemically resolved particles of variant size distributions. The aerosol size parameters can be introduced to the model either directly as median aerodynamic diameter and geometric standard deviation or are estimated by the model from measurement data. The model treats monodisperse or polydisperse aerosol size distributions. The human respiratory tract (RT) model of the International Commission on Radiological protection (ICRP Publication 66) is utilized for the respiratory tract deposition calculations. The above together with the dose and clearance/retention modules can be used to study together exposure and dose of chemically resolved particles of variant size distributions. The ExDoM model implementation in order to study the exposure and dose of particles in the human RT is demonstrated at two locations. In particular, the dose and retention of particles to RT and the mass transferred to the gastrointestinal tract and blood capillaries are estimated for an adult Caucasian male exposed to PM10 at a coastal remote site in the eastern Mediterranean. In addition, the regional lung doses of specific chemical components of PM10 (inorganic ions and carbonaceous compounds) during realistic exposure conditions outdoors at a residential background area in Oslo, Norway, were assessed. The results from the two studies showed that the dose was enhanced for the carbonaceous fine fraction of particles in the alveolar region of the lung whereas the dose of crustal material dominated in the extrathoracic region.

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