Analysis of human exhaled breath in a population of young volunteers

Abstract

Analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in human breath can provide information about the current physiological state of an individual, such as clinical conditions and exposure to exogenous pollutants. The blood-borne VOCs present in exhaled breath offer the possibility of exploring physiological and pathological processes in a noninvasive way. However, the field of exhaled breath analysis is still in its infancy. We undertook this study in order to define inter-individual variation and common compounds in breath VOCs of 48 young human volunteers. Alveolar breath samples were analyzed by automated thermal desorption, gas chromatography with flame ionization detector (FID) and electron capture detector (ECD) using SUPELCO standards with 66 compounds. Predominant compounds in the alveolar breath of analyzed subjects are ethylbenzene, 1-ethyl-4-methylbenzene, 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene and 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene (over 50% of the subjects). Isopropyl alcohol, propylene, acetone, ethanol were found as well. We detected substituted compounds in exhaled breath.