S-(acetamidomethyl)mercapturic acid (AMMA): a new biomarker for occupational exposure to N,N-dimethylacetamide

Microbial co-culture mediated by intercellular nanotubes during DMAC degradation: Microbial interaction, communication mode, and degradation mechanism

Microbial co-culture has been proven as an effective technique for environmental remediation. In this study, co-culture mechanism of Rhodococcus ruber HJM-8 and Paracoccus communis YBH-X during N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAC) degradation was studied. The comparison of degradation performance in monoculture and co-culture was presented; due to the efficient cooperation between the two strains via parallel and cascaded degradation, the removal efficiency of total nitrogen (TN) in co-culture could reach 90.1%, which was 1.35 and 1.21 times higher than that of HJM-8 and YBH-X, respectively. Then the communication mode of co-culture during DMAC degradation was determined as contact-independent and contact-dependent interactions between microorganisms. Meanwhile, intercellular nanotube between HJM-8 and YBH-X was found as a unique contact-dependent interaction. The cell staining experiments and RNA sequencing analyses revealed that the nanotube could be used as a bridge to exchange cytoplasmic molecules, and thus improved material transfer and enhanced cell connection in co-culture. The results of KEGG pathway showed that differentially expressed genes in co-culture have an association with cell metabolism, nanotube generation, and genetic material transfer. Furthermore, a mechanism diagram of DMAC biodegradation was proposed for co-culture, indicating that bidirectional cooperation was established between HJM-8 and YBH-X which was mediated by the conversions of acetate and nitrogen. Finally, the co-culture system was validated for treatment of an actual wastewater; results indicated that removal efficiencies of 100% and 68.2% were achieved for DMAC and TN, respectively, suggesting that co-culture had the potential for application.

Increasing N,N-dimethylacetamide degradation and mineralization efficiency by co-culture of Rhodococcus ruber HJM-8 and Paracoccus communis YBH-X

In this work, Rhodococcus ruber HJM-8 and Paracoccus communis YBH-X were isolated and used to enhance N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAC) degradation and mineralization efficiencies. The monoculture and co-culture of the two strains for DMAC degradation were compared; results indicated that, a degradation efficiency of 97.62% was obtained in co-culture, which was much higher than that of monocultures of HJM-8 (57.34%) and YBH-X (34.02%). The degradation mechanism showed that co-culture could efficiently improve extracellular polymeric substances production, electron transfer, and microbial activity. Meanwhile, the mineralization mechanism suggested that acetate was the dominant intermediate which had an inhibitory effect on HJM-8, and co-culture was conducive to mineralization due to the high performance of acetate conversion and Na⁺ K⁺-ATPase vitality. Besides, a pathway of DMAC biodegradation was proposed for co-culture: DMAC was degraded into acetate by HJM-8, then the accumulated acetate was mineralized by YBH-X. Additionally, the co-culture system was further optimized by Box-Behnken design.

Simultaneously enhanced degradation of N, N-dimethylacetamide and reduced formation of iron sludge by an efficient electrolysis catalyzed ozone process in the presence of dissolved silicate

The generation of sludge is the main issue in iron-based electrochemical techniques. Interestingly, in this study, the effluent was totally limpid and iron sludge did not generate when dissolved silicate (Na₂SiO₃) was used as the electrolyte in an electrolysis catalyzed ozone (ECO-Na₂SiO₃) system. More importantly, the pseudo-first-order rate constants (0.112 min^-1) for DMAC degradation in ECO-Na₂SiO₃ process was much higher than those of ECO systems using other electrolytes. An inhibition film formed on the iron electrode surface was identified to inhibit excess corrosion of iron electrodes and efficiently catalyze decomposition of ozone simultaneously. It was confirmed that hydroxyl radical (^•OH) played a dominant role for the degradation of DMAC, and O₂^•- and H₂O₂ were also contained in ECO-Na₂SiO₃ system. The contributions of contained oxidative reactions in ECO-Na₂SiO₃ system were quantitatively evaluated. Finally, the degradation pathway of DMAC was proposed. This work provides an effective way for protecting electrode from corrosion in electrochemical process.

Natural mackinawite catalytic ozonation for N, N-dimethylacetamide (DMAC) degradation in aqueous solution: Kinetic, performance, biotoxicity and mechanism

To enhance the degradation of N, N-dimethylacetamide (DMAC) in aqueous solution, the natural mackinawite (NM) is introduced for catalytic ozonation in this study as it is an environmentally friendly catalyst with low cost and easy availability. The properties of the NM were initially characterized via scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Then, impact factors including NM dosage, ozone gas concentration and initial pH were investigated and the optimal conditions (i.e., NM dosage = 3.5 g/L, ozone gas concentration = 300 L/min, initial pH = 6.8) were obtained in NM/O3 process. Besides, the superiority of the NM/O₃ process was confirmed by the experiments that the degradation efficiency of DMAC in the NM/O₃ process (i.e., 95.4%) was much higher than that in the zero-valent iron (ZVI)/O₃ process (i.e., 46.1%) and the synthetic FeS/O₃ process (i.e., 68.6%). Furthermore, the intermediate and possible degradation pathway of DMAC were proposed, and the biological toxicity of the intermediate was subsequently evaluated by the activated sludge. Finally, the mechanism of the NM/O3 process was proposed in this study based on control experiment and radical scavenging experiment. The extraordinary efficiency for DMAC degradation was found to be mainly caused by HO^• of the reactive oxygen species (ROS) (i.e., HO^•, O₂^•- and H₂O₂) generated in the NM/O₃ process. Therefore, this study confirmed that NM was a high efficient catalyst for degradation the toxic and refractory pollutants in catalytic ozonation system.

Insight into a highly efficient electrolysis-ozone process for N,N-dimethylacetamide degradation: Quantitative analysis of the role of catalytic ozonation, fenton-like and peroxone reactions

A highly efficient electrolysis catalyzed ozone (ECO) process was developed for N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAC) degradation. The pseudo-first-order rate constants (k_obs) of DMAC degradation by ECO process were 1.73-19.09 times greater than those by ozonation and electrolysis processes in a wide pH range of 3.0-10.0. Interestingly, we found O₂^•- could be generated from ozone decomposition by a radical chain mechanism instead of monovalent reduction of O₂ in ECO system at the initial pH of 3.0. Subsequently, the H₂O₂ derived from O₂^•- could participate in Fenton-like and peroxone reactions with the released Fe²⁺ from iron anode and the aerated O₃, respectively. Therefore, the extraordinary DMAC removal efficiency was mainly caused by the more generation of ^•OH through the multiple reactions of homogeneous catalytic ozonation, Fenton-like and peroxone in ECO system. Importantly, the roles of involved reactions in ECO system at various initial pH were quantitatively evaluated according to a series of trapping experiments. The results reveal that the solution pH could significantly affect the contributions of various reactions and convert the reaction mechanisms of multiple reactions in ECO system. Finally, the degradation intermediates were detected to propose a possible DMAC oxidation pathway in the ECO system. This work provides a deep insight into the quantitative analysis of the role of multiple oxidation reactions mechanism and the design of efficient electrochemical advanced oxidation technology for recalcitrant organic pollutant removal.

Concentration determination of urinary metabolites of N,N-dimethylacetamide by high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

OBJECTIVES

N,N-Dimethylacetamide (DMAC) is widely used in industry as a solvent. It can be absorbed through human skin. Therefore, it is necessary to determine exposure to DMAC via biological monitoring. However, the precision of traditional gas chromatography (GC) is low due to the thermal decomposition of metabolites in the high-temperature GC injection port. To overcome this problem, we have developed a new method for the simultaneous separation and quantification of urinary DMAC metabolites using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).

METHODS

Urine samples were diluted 10-fold in formic acid, and 1-μl aliquots were injected into the LC-MS/MS equipment. A C18 reverse-phase Octa Decyl Silyl (ODS) column was used as the analytical column, and the mobile phase consisted of a mixture of methanol and aqueous formic acid solution.

RESULTS

Urinary concentrations of DMAC and its known metabolites (N-hydroxymethyl-N-methylacetamide (DMAC-OH), N-methylacetamide (NMAC), and S- (acetamidomethyl) mercapturic acid (AMMA) ) were determined in a single run. The dynamic ranges of the calibration curves were 0.05-5 mg/l (r≥0.999) for all four compounds. The limits of detection for DMAC, DMAC-OH, NMAC, and AMMA in urine were 0.04, 0.02, 0.05, and 0.02 mg/l, respectively. Within-run accuracies were 96.5%-109.6% with relative standard deviations of precision being 3.43%-10.31%.

CONCLUSIONS

The results demonstrated that the proposed method could successfully quantify low concentrations of DMAC and its metabolites with high precision. Hence, this method is useful for evaluating DMAC exposure. In addition, this method can be used to examine metabolite behaviors in human bodies after exposure and to select appropriate biomarkers.

New insights into the treatment of realN,N-dimethylacetamide contaminated wastewater using a membrane bioreactor and its membrane fouling implications

Treatment of N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAC) wastewater is an important step in achieving the sustainable industrial application of DMAC as an organic solvent. This is the first time that treatment of a high concentration of DMAC in real wastewater has been assessed using membrane bioreactor technology. In this study, an anoxic–oxic membrane bioreactor (MBR) was operated over a month to mineralize concentrated DMAC wastewater. Severe membrane fouling occurred during the short-term operation of the MBR as the membrane flux decreased from 11.52 to 5.28 L (m² h)⁻¹. The membrane fouling was aggravated by the increased amount of protein fractions present in the MBR mixed liquor. Moreover, results from the excitation–emission matrix analysis identified tryptophan and other protein-like related substances as the major membrane-fouling components. Furthermore, analysis of the DMAC degradation mechanism via high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and ion chromatography (IC) revealed that the major degradation products were ammonium and dimethylamine (DMA). Although the MBR system achieved the steady removal of DMAC and chemical oxygen demand (COD) by up to 98% and 80%, respectively at DMAC₀ ≤ 7548 mg L⁻¹, DMA was found to have accumulated in the treated effluent. Our investigation provides insight into the prospect and challenges of using MBR systems for DMAC wastewater degradation.

Treatment of N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAC) wastewater is an important step in achieving the sustainable industrial application of DMAC as an organic solvent.

Biodegradation of N,N-dimethylacetamide by Rhodococcus sp. strain B83 isolated from the rhizosphere of pagoda tree

The biodegradation characteristic and potential metabolic pathway for removal of environmental N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAC) by Rhodococcus sp. strain B83 was studied. Rhodococcus sp. strain B83 was isolated from the rhizosphere of a pagoda tree and proved capable of utilizing DMAC as sole source of carbon and nitrogen. Batch culture studies showed that strain B83 could tolerate up to 25g/L DMAC and showed distinct growth on possible catabolic intermediates except for acetate. The nitrogen balance analysis revealed that approximately 71% of the initial nitrogen was converted to organic nitrogen. DMAC degradation has led to accumulation of acetate and organic nitrogen, meanwhile traces of nitrate and ammonia was build-up but without nitrite. The growth of strain B83 could be inhibited by adding exogenous acetate. By means of the assay of enzymatic degradation of DMAC, several catabolic intermediates at different intervals were observed and identified. Based on the results obtained from culture solution and enzymatic degradation assay, a detailed pathway is proposed for DMAC biodegradation.

Mercapturic acids: recent advances in their determination by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry and their use in toxicant metabolism studies and in occupational and environmental exposure studies

This review describes recent selected HPLC/MS methods for the determination of urinary mercapturates that are useful as noninvasive biomarkers in characterizing human exposure to electrophilic industrial chemicals in occupational and environmental studies. High-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry is a sensitive and specific method for analysis of small molecules found in biological fluids. In this review, recent selected mercapturate quantification methods are summarized and specific cases are presented. The biological formation of mercapturates is introduced and their use as indicators of metabolic processing of reactive toxicants is discussed, as well as future trends and limitations in this area of research.

A survey of liquid chromatographic-mass spectrometric analysis of mercapturic acid biomarkers in occupational and environmental exposure monitoring

High-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS) is sensitive and specific for targeted quantitative analysis and is readily utilized for small molecules from biological matrices. This brief review describes recent selected HPLC/MS methods for the determination of urinary mercapturic acids (mercapturates) which are useful as biomarkers in characterizing human exposure to electrophilic industrial chemicals in occupational and environmental studies. Electrophilic compounds owing to their reactivity are used in chemical and industrial processes. They are present in industrial emissions, are combustion products of fossil fuels, and are components in tobacco smoke. Their presence in both the industrial and general environments are of concern for human and environmental health. Urinary mercapturates which are the products of metabolic detoxification of reactive chemicals provide a non-invasive tool to investigate human exposure to electrophilic toxicants. Selected recent mercapturate quantification methods are summarized and specific cases are presented. The biological formation of mercapturates is introduced and their use as biomarkers of metabolic processing of electrophilic compounds is discussed. Also, the use of liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry in simultaneous determinations of the mercapturates of multiple parent compounds in a single determination is considered, as well as future trends and limitations in this area of research.