More and more contaminants in dust have been found to
be glucocorticoid
receptor (GR) disrupting chemicals. However, little is known about
the related potency and responsible toxicants, especially for the
main bioaccessible ones in dust. An effect-directed analysis (EDA)-based
workflow was developed, including solvent-based exhaustive extraction/tenax-assisted
bioaccessible extraction (TBE), high-throughput bioassays, suspect
and non-target analysis, as well as in silico candidate selection,
for a more realistic identification of responsible contaminants in
dust. None of the 39 dust samples from 23 cities in China exhibited
GR agonistic activity, while GR antagonistic potencies were detected
in 34.8% of samples, being significantly different from the high detection
frequency of GR agonistic activities in other environmental media.
The GR antagonistic potencies of the dust samples were all reduced
after bioaccessible extraction. The mean bioaccessibility of GR antagonistic
potency compared with the related exhaustive extracts was 36.8%, and
the lowest value was 9%. By using in silico candidate selection, greater
than 99% candidate chemical structures which were found by a non-target
screening strategy were removed. Di-n-butyl phthalate
(DnBP), diisobutyl phthalate (DiBP), and nicotine
(NIC) were responsible for the activities of the exhaustive extracts
of dust, contributing up to 91% potencies. DiBP and DnBP were also responsible for the bioaccessible activities, contributing
up to 79% potencies. However, the contribution from NIC decreased
significantly and can be ignored because of its low bioaccessibility.
This study suggests that the improved workflow combining extraction,
reporter gene bioassays, suspect and non-target analysis, as well
as in silico candidate selection is useful for EDA analysis in dust
samples. In addition, exhaustive extraction may overestimate the risk
of contaminants, while bioaccessibility evaluation based on bioaccessible
extraction is essential in both effect evaluation and toxicant identification.
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