The aerosol compositions generated by industrial processes such as welding have been found to contain metal fumes, including those of manganese. Such fumes are potentially harmful and have been known to cause neurological and psychological problems.
The bioaccessibility of the particles is a determinant of how much is taken up by the lungs into the bloodstreams of workers. The solubility of the particles that contain the metal may help to clarify the level of the health risk associated with exposure to manganese. This particle solubility may be different for different industrial processes as different formation mechanisms take place and particles develop differing chemical complexity and size. For example, higher fluorine content in welding fumes increases particle solubility.
Researchers from the National Institute of Occupational Health, Norway, and the Northwest Public Health Research Centre, Russia, have collaborated to test the bioavailability of manganese in welders. They cross-referenced results from blood, serum and urine samples with the results of solubility tests of personally collected aerosol samples. The researchers used a simulated lung lining fluid to test the pulmonary solubility of the aerosol samples.
They found statistically significant correlations between the manganese concentrations in the biological fluids of welders and their aerosol samples, whereas this was a non-significant relationship with the non-welder group and in former welders. They conclude that manganese in urine may be a better biomarker for immediate exposure than that in blood or serum. Manganese in the blood is associated with cumulative exposure over a number of years, but that it is not necessarily a good measure of such exposure as there may also be internal deposits in tissues.
Overall, this study shows that the fraction of manganese in welding fumes that is bioaccessible is low. Despite the correlation between soluble manganese and the amount in the biological samples, the background levels of manganese meant that the welders could not be distinguished from the non-welder group.
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The bioavailability of manganese in welders in relation to its solubility in welding fumes
Dag G. Ellingsen, Evgenij Zibarev, Zarina Kusraeva, Balazs Berlinger, Maxim Chashchin, Rita Bast-Pettersen, Valery Chashchin and Yngvar Thomassen
DOI: 10.1039/C2EM30750B
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