Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40763643›Full record

ArticleEnvironment international2025

Human exposure to green spaces and monoterpenes: discovery and use of α-pinene metabolites as biomarkers.

Zhengzhi Xie, Saurin R Sutaria, Jin Y Chen, Hong Gao, Daniel J Conklin, Rachel J Keith, Sanjay Srivastava, Pawel Lorkiewicz, Aruni Bhatnagar

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Environment international, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Observational
  3. Protective Effects ofAntioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Zhengzhi XieChristina Lee Brown Envirome Institute, University of Louisville, USA; Superfund Research Center, University of Louisville, USA; American Heart Association-Tobacco Regulation and Addiction Center, University of Louisville, USA; Division of Environmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40202, USA. Electronic address: zhengzhi.xie@louisville.edu.
Saurin R SutariaChristina Lee Brown Envirome Institute, University of Louisville, USA; Superfund Research Center, University of Louisville, USA; American Heart Association-Tobacco Regulation and Addiction Center, University of Louisville, USA; Department of Chemistry, Bellarmine University, USA; Division of Environmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40202, USA. Electronic address: ssutaria@bellarmine.edu.
Jin Y ChenChristina Lee Brown Envirome Institute, University of Louisville, USA; Superfund Research Center, University of Louisville, USA; American Heart Association-Tobacco Regulation and Addiction Center, University of Louisville, USA; Division of Environmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40202, USA. Electronic address: jin.chen@louisville.edu.
Hong GaoChristina Lee Brown Envirome Institute, University of Louisville, USA; Superfund Research Center, University of Louisville, USA; American Heart Association-Tobacco Regulation and Addiction Center, University of Louisville, USA; Division of Environmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40202, USA. Electronic address: hong.gao@louisville.edu.
Daniel J ConklinChristina Lee Brown Envirome Institute, University of Louisville, USA; Superfund Research Center, University of Louisville, USA; American Heart Association-Tobacco Regulation and Addiction Center, University of Louisville, USA; Division of Environmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40202, USA. Electronic address: dj.conklin@louisville.edu.
Rachel J KeithChristina Lee Brown Envirome Institute, University of Louisville, USA; Superfund Research Center, University of Louisville, USA; American Heart Association-Tobacco Regulation and Addiction Center, University of Louisville, USA; Division of Environmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40202, USA. Electronic address: rachel.keith@louisville.edu.
Sanjay SrivastavaChristina Lee Brown Envirome Institute, University of Louisville, USA; Superfund Research Center, University of Louisville, USA; American Heart Association-Tobacco Regulation and Addiction Center, University of Louisville, USA; Division of Environmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40202, USA. Electronic address: sanjay.srivastava@louisville.edu.
Pawel LorkiewiczChristina Lee Brown Envirome Institute, University of Louisville, USA; Superfund Research Center, University of Louisville, USA; American Heart Association-Tobacco Regulation and Addiction Center, University of Louisville, USA; Division of Environmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40202, USA; Department of Chemistry, University of Louisville, USA. Electronic address: pawel.lorkiewicz@louisville.edu.
Aruni BhatnagarChristina Lee Brown Envirome Institute, University of Louisville, USA; Superfund Research Center, University of Louisville, USA; American Heart Association-Tobacco Regulation and Addiction Center, University of Louisville, USA; Division of Environmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40202, USA. Electronic address: aruni.bhatnagar@louisville.edu.

Funding

Superfund Training CoreP42ES023716 · NIEHS · UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE · PI HEIN, DAVID W · 2017 to 2025
$18.1M
University of Louisville Center for Integrative Environmental Health SciencesP30ES030283 · NIEHS · UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE · PI Amanda Jo LeBlanc · 2020 to 2026
$10.0M
UOFL ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SCIENCES TRAINING PROGRAMT32ES011564 · NIEHS · UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE · PI David W Hein, John Pierce Wise · 2004 to 2026
$7.1M
TBDP30GM127607 · NIGMS · UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE · PI JONES, STEVEN P · 2018 to 2022
$6.3M
Urban Greenness and Cardiovascular HealthR01ES029846 · NIEHS · UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE · PI Aruni Bhatnagar · 2018 to 2026
$6.2M
Bruker timsTOF Mass SpectrometerS10OD026840 · OD · UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE · PI LORKIEWICZ, PAWEL K · 2020 to 2020
$598k
Cardiovascular Benefits of Inhaled Biogenic Volatile Organic CompoundsR21ES033323 · NIEHS · UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE · PI CONKLIN, DANIEL JOSEPH · 2021 to 2022
$430k
NIEHS NIH HHS P30 ES030283NIEHS NIH HHS P42 ES023716NIEHS NIH HHS R01 ES029846NIEHS NIH HHS R21 ES033323NIEHS NIH HHS T32 ES011564NIGMS NIH HHS P30 GM127607NIH HHS S10 OD026840
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Exposure to green spaces has been linked to numerous health benefits, including a reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease and lower mortality rates. However, to better understand how green spaces influence human health, it is essential to have valid, quantitative measures of greenness exposure. Building on our previous identification of urinary limonene metabolites as potential biomarkers of exposure, we now investigate α-pinene, another abundant plant-emitted monoterpene, to identify and quantify its urinary metabolites and evaluate their suitability as biomarkers. We used liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) to analyze samples of human urine collected following either controlled α-pinene inhalation or real-world greenness exposure. Through a combination of pseudo-targeted and untargeted analyses, we discovered 22 α-pinene metabolites post-inhalation including nine novel structures, with two confirmed against synthetic standards. Relative quantitation of the urinary levels of the metabolites was used to estimate their kinetic parameters. A 4 h exposure to a forest environment resulted in significant increases in the most abundant metabolites. This suggests that α-pinene metabolites, specifically myrtenic acid glucuronide and dihydromyrtenic acid glucuronide, may serve as valid biomarkers when assessing individual exposure to green environments. When combined with other subjective and objective measures, these novel urinary biomarkers promote a more comprehensive assessment of exposure to greenness.

Indexed as

Air PollutantsEnvironmental ExposureMonoterpenesBicyclic MonoterpenesBiomarkersEnvironmental MonitoringHumansMaleAir Pollutantsalpha-pineneBicyclic MonoterpenesBiomarkersMonoterpenesbiogenic volatile organic compounds (bVOC)Data-independent acquisition (DIA)Greenness exposureIntegrated library-guided analysis (ILGA)LC-MSMonoterpeneα-pinene

Identifiers

PMID40763643
PMCPMC12477777

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.