Assessing indoor air toxicity with condensate collected from air using the mitochondrial activity of human BJ fibroblasts and THP-1 monocytes

The hypothesis for our study was that air and airborne moisture are carriers of possible toxic compounds and these compounds can be collected as condensate using dry ice. Using human cells, we aimed to evaluate the indoor air toxic risk from the condensed water collected from several office and laboratory rooms in two different buildings, both located at the University of Texas at Austin. Condensate samples were collected by using stainless steel collectors (E-collectors), and the effects of samples on the viability of human BJ fibroblast and activated THP-1-monocytes in vitro were investigated by using WST-1 cytotoxicity assays. Toxicological assessment utilizing human BJ fibroblasts and activated THP-1-monocytes of condensate from air reflects the acute toxic effects of the indoor air. The first results suggest that toxicological assessment of condensate collected from air using dry ice in stainless steel condensate collectors and human BJ fibroblasts and activated THP-1-monocytes as test organisms could be useful in detecting indoor air anomalies.