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Quantification of Muramic Acid, a Marker for Bacterial Peptidoglycan, in Dust Collected from Hospital and Home Air‐Conditioning Filters using Gas Chromatography — Mass Spectrometry
Author(s) -
Fox Alvin,
Rosario Rose Marie T.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
indoor air
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.387
H-Index - 99
eISSN - 1600-0668
pISSN - 0905-6947
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0668.1994.00004.x
Subject(s) - muramic acid , chemistry , mass spectrometry , contamination , peptidoglycan , environmental chemistry , gas chromatography , air filter , air mass (solar energy) , chromatography , environmental science , inlet , organic chemistry , boundary layer , thermodynamics , ecology , physics , biology , enzyme , mechanical engineering , engineering
The development of standardized non‐culture‐based approaches capable of assessing microbial contarnination of airborne dust is sorely needed. Direct chemical analysis has previously been successfully used for measuring components unique to Gram‐negative bacteria. In the present study, dust from primary filters of hospital air‐conditioning intake systems (which filter incoming outdoor and recirculated air) and dust from secondary room filters (filtering primarily indoor air) were analyzed. Dust from home air‐condition‐ing filters (which also filter outdoor air, with recirculation) were also analyzed. Muramic acid is an aminosugar present in Gram‐positive and Gram‐negative bacterial cell walls and can serve as a measure of bacterial contamination in dust. Samples were analyzed by gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry after hydrolysis and conversion of released sugars (including muramic acid) to alditol acetates. Primary hospital filters contained 26.3 ± 10.0 ng of muramic acid/mg dust while secondary filters contained 5.3 ± 5.4 ng/mg. The level of inuramic acid in home air‐conditioner dust was 31.7 ± 13.4 ng/mg. This study of dust collected from air‐conditioners demonstrates the feasibility of chemical assessment of the microbial contamination of indoor air.