[Evaluation of the interest of passive air sampling and hair sampling for the biomonitoring of human exposure to polycyclic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and pesticides]. (Doctoral thesis)

Original title: Evaluation de l’intérêt de l’échantillonnage passif d’air et des analyses de cheveux dans le biomonitoring de l’exposition humaine aux hydrocarbures aromatiques polycycliques (HAPs) et aux pesticides.
A combined approach of air analysis using passive samplers and hair analysis was proposed and investigated to give a complete evaluation of the human exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and pesticides, harmful organic pollutants because of the fatal effects they may cause (cancers, allergies,…). Passive samplers have been shown to be suited for the sampling of atmospheric PAHs and pesticides and the investigation of its spatial and temporal variations. It has also been managed to increase knowledge about the adsorption mechanisms of the analytes on the sampler, by suggesting the existence of a correlation between adsorption and temperature and by supposing the establishment of a dynamic equilibrium between the sampler and the air. Hair analyses are suited for determining the amount of PAHs effectively incorporated by humans. The influences of external contamination can be considerably reduced by dosing metabolites instead of the parental compounds (for PAHs) and by decontaminating the hair samples prior to analysis. A certain memory effect could be attributed to hair allowing informing about exposures having taken place in a recent past, though as it has been shown that the presence of a compound (notably a pesticide) is due to a combination of incorporation, infiltration of external contamination and degradation, the interpretation of the results must be done very carefully, and it is suggested to considerate only the proximal segment for the analysis. The inter-individual variations allowed identifying subjects particularly exposed to PAHs and pesticides, and it was shown that some sources to this exposure can be identified with hair analysis if it is caused by individual behaviour (e.g. smoking). Though, if the exposure doesn’t relate to personal habits, hair analysis cannot identify the origin of the exposure. In this case, a systematic research about the contamination of the subject’s environment, e.g. using passive samplers.