White-light from soot: closing the gap in the diagnostic market

Abstract

Worldwide, outdoor air pollution is responsible for 4.2 million premature deaths per year. Both chronic and acute exposure to particulate matter air pollution is a risk factor for heart and lung diseases. One of the atmospheric pollutant particles is represented by soot or carbonaceous particles (CPs), which are produced during the incomplete combustion of fuels. To evaluate human CP exposure, a direct and label-free approach for detecting such particles in body fluids and tissues was still lacking. We present a novel technique to finally close the diagnostic gap. We report for the first time white-light generation by CPs under femtosecond pulsed near-infrared light illumination in aqueous environments and demonstrate the potential of this approach in biomedical and diagnostic context. In fact, it was shown that urinary carbon loading can serve as an exposure matrix to carbon-based air pollution, reflecting the passage of soot particles from circulation into urine. The novel method is straightforward, fast and flexible without the need of sample pretreatment. Moreover, the technique offers several other advantages such as inherent 3D sectioning and high imaging depths making it possible to screen at the cellular and tissue level. In conclusion, this novel diagnostic technique allows to quantify exposure at the personal level including different scenarios like occupational exposure, smog, forest fires, etc.. Additionally, this approach paves the way to unravel the complexity of soot-related health effects.