Portable Analyzer for On-site Monitoring of Worker Exposure to Toxic Metals

描述（由申请人提供）：大量工业工人经常接触有毒重金属，如镉（Cd）、铅（Pb）和汞（Hg），已知这些重金属会诱发各种有害人体健康的疾病。为了监测工人的多种有毒金属暴露，并确保这些暴露低于对各种器官系统造成永久性损伤的阈值，我们将利用太平洋西北国家实验室（PNNL）的研究小组开发的一种新方法，开发一种便携式分析仪，用于实时、现场、无创地监测工人的有毒金属暴露。该分析仪将基于尿液中镉，铅和汞的内置预浓缩，由PNNL创建的高效吸附材料，在其伏安定量之前。尿被普遍认为是评估急性和持续暴露于多种有毒金属的最佳非侵入性基质之一。吸附材料是自组装功能化和极高表面积的二氧化硅的结合，被设计成对金属离子具有高度特异性，即使在1)复杂的尿基质，2)肾脏疾病引起的蛋白质水平升高的尿液，以及3)由于螯合作用引起的金属螯合物水平升高的尿液中。因此，我们的传感器不像传统的电化学传感器那样需要有毒的汞来进行金属离子的预浓缩。样品和试剂的交付将基于可编程的顺序注射与湍流的设计，最大限度地减少由蛋白质引起的传感器污垢。该分析仪将减少监测工人暴露和临床诊断的时间和成本。它具有价格低廉、功耗低、便携、全自动化、操作简便等优点，优于原子吸收分光光度法、ICP-MS等传统分析方法，是新一代金属离子分析仪的代表。本项目直接响应NIOSH/R21的PA-04-030，开发暴露评估的研究工具和方法。便携式分析仪将使(1)更好地识别有风险的工人并制定适当的控制和干预策略，(2)了解暴露-反应关系，(3)改善标准制定和风险评估的基线数据，所有这些都已被NIOSH国家职业研究议程（NORA）委托的暴露评估方法（EAM）团队确定为重要的。一旦成功，便携式分析仪可以很容易地扩展到分析其他有毒金属离子，如铬，砷，镧系元素和锕系元素，通过使用已经创建的其他吸附材料的组合，以特定于这些分析物的吸附。最终，金属离子传感器将与肌酐传感器结合起来，这样就可以用“点”尿而不是24小时尿来进行暴露监测。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Large numbers of industrial workers are regularly exposed to toxic heavy metals like cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), and mercury (Hg), which are known to induce various diseases that are detrimental to human health. In order to monitor workers for multiple toxic metal exposures and to ensure that these exposures are below a threshold for inducing permanent damage to various organ systems, a portable analyzer for real-time, onsite, non-invasive monitoring of workers for toxic metal exposure will be developed using a novel approach developed by our research group at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). The analyzer will be based on the built-in preconcentration of cadmium, lead, and mercury present in urine by the highly efficient sorbent materials, created at PNNL, prior to their voltammetric quantitation. Urine is universally recognized as one of the best non-invasive matrix to assess both acute and ongoing exposures to a broad range of many toxic metals. The sorbent materials are the marriage of self-assembled functionalization and extremely high surface area silia and are designed to be highly specific for the metal ions even in 1) complex urine matrix, 2) urine with elevated level of proteins resulting from renal diseases, and 3) urine with elevated level of metal-chelates resulting from chelation administration. Thus our sensors do not require toxic mercury for metal ion preconcentration unlike conventional electrochemical sensors. Delivery of samples and reagents will be based on programmable sequential injection with turbulent flow-onto a design that minimizes the sensor fouling caused by proteins. The analyzer will reduce the time and costs of monitoring worker exposure and clinical diagnosis. It represents the next-generation of metal ion analyzer because of its affordability, low power consumption, portability, full automation, and easy operation, which are better than the traditional analytical methods like AAS and ICP-MS. This project directly responds to PA-04-030 of NIOSH/R21 for the development of research tools and approaches for exposure assessment. The portable analyzer will enable (1) better identification of at-risk workers and development of appropriate control and intervention strategies, (2) understanding of exposure-response relationships, and (3) improvement of baseline data for a standard setting and risk assessment, all of which have been identified as important by the Exposure Assessment Methods (EAM) team commissioned by NIOSH's National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA). Once successful, the portable analyzer can be easily extended to the analysis of other toxic metal ions such as chromium, arsenic, lanthanides, and actinides by using combination of other sorbent materials that have already been created to be specific for the sorption of such analytes. Ultimately, the sensor for metal ions will be combined with the sensor for creatinine so that the exposure monitoring can be performed with "spot" urine instead of 24-hr urine.