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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, January 2004, p. 262-267, Vol. 70, No. 1
0099-2240/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.70.1.262-267.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Characterization of Lipopolysaccharides Present in Settled House Dust

Ju-Hyeong Park,1,4 Bogumila Szponar,2 Lennart Larsson,2 Diane R. Gold,3,4 and Donald K. Milton3,4*

Division of Respiratory Disease Studies, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, West Virginia,1 University of Lund, Lund, Sweden,2 The Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School,3 Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts4

Received 15 May 2003/ Accepted 22 October 2003

The 3-hydroxy fatty acids (3-OHFAs) in lipopolysaccharides (LPS) play an important role in determining endotoxin activity, and childhood exposure to endotoxin has recently been associated with reduced risk of atopic diseases. To characterize the 3-OHFAs in house dust (HD), we used gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to assay 190 HD samples. Dust from beds, bedroom floors, family rooms, and kitchen floors was collected as part of a birth cohort study of childhood asthma (study 1) and a longitudinal study of home allergen and endotoxin (study 2). We also measured endotoxin activity with a Limulus assay and computed specific activity (endotoxin activity per nanomole of LPS). Longer-chain (C16:0 and C18:0) 3-OHFAs were predominant in HD compared with short-chain (C10:0, C12:0, and C14:0) acids. Endotoxin activity was positively correlated with short-chain 3-OHFAs in both studies. In study 2, 3-OH C16:0 was negatively correlated and 3-OH C18:0 was not correlated with endotoxin activity, consistent with previous findings that the Limulus assay responds preferentially to LPS containing short-chain 3-OHFAs. Kitchen dust contained the highest concentrations of 3-OH C10:0, the highest endotoxin activities, and the highest specific activities (P < 0.03). Bed dust contained the largest amounts of long-chain 3-OHFAs, the highest concentrations of LPS, and the lowest specific activities. Apartments had significantly different types of LPS (P = 0.03) compared with single-family homes in study 2. These data suggest that the Limulus assay may underestimate exposure to certain types of LPS. Because nontoxic LPS may have immune modulating effects, analysis of 3-OHFAs may be useful in epidemiologic studies.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, 665 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115. Phone: (617) 432-3324. Fax: (617) 432-3349. E-mail: dmilton{at}hsph.harvard.edu.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, January 2004, p. 262-267, Vol. 70, No. 1
0099-2240/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.70.1.262-267.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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