Mutagenic activity of airborne particulate matter in indoor and outdoor environments

Research on mutagenic activity of airborne particulate matter has focused mainly on the outdoor environment, although far more time is spent indoors than outdoors. Most of these investigations were conducted on samples, collected in urban or industrial areas. Results may give the mutagenic potential of air samples; however, as the number of samples is often limited, the influence of various sources and processes on mutagenic activity of airborne particles is not assessed. This review deals with the interpretation of the variation in mutagenic activity of outdoor as well as indoor airborne particulate matter and their relationship. A comparison is made with the chemical and physical character of aerosols on the one hand and with general air pollution parameters on the other hand. Furthermore this paper briefly discusses the relevance of mutagenic principles on airborne particulate matter for human exposure.