Nanoparticles (NPs) of urban dust can be hazardous to human health due to the possibility of a high accumulation of potentially toxic elements (PTEs), high penetration ability into organisms, and their ability to cause injury to cells, tissues, and organs. The composition of NPs of urban dust may vary during the year; however, there are so far no studies on the seasonal changes in their elemental composition and related ecological and health risks. The current work was carried out using samples of urban dust from Moscow, the largest megacity in Europe, collected in spring, summer, and autumn. It was found that NPs of urban dust are polluted by PTEs, namely W, Bi, Hg, P, S, Sn, Mo, Cu, Cd, Pb, Sb, and Zn. The highest pollution and ecological risks were found in NPs of urban dust collected in summer (RI = 592) as compared to autumn (RI = 399) and spring (RI = 231). The same regularity was observed for health risks. The highest possible cancerogenic risk was found in summer NPs (CTCR = 3.0 × 10−4) followed by autumn NPs (CTCR = 2.5 × 10−4) and spring NPs (CTCR = 3.5 × 10−5). However, the difference between mean values obtained for the three seasons was not statistically significant. Additionally, it was demonstrated that vehicle emissions are one of the main sources of pollution of NPs, and their intensity does not significantly change throughout the year in Moscow. The results obtained offer new insights into the regularities of seasonal variations in elemental composition, pollution, and related ecological and health risks of NPs of urban dust.
Ivaneev et al. (Thu,) studied this question.