In addition, results revealed the potential presence of nonvisible contamination at indoor control locations where MVOC concentrations were significantly higher than those measured outdoors. Although further validation studies are needed, the use of MVOCs as a reliable indicator for microbiological contamination in buildings is promising. Quantitative Lipid Biomarker Analysis of Airborne Microorganisms in Indoor Environments. There is increasing concern over airborne microorganisms in indoor air environments. Standard microbiological methods based on microorganism culture have severe limitations for the analysis of indoor air samples.
All viable cells contain a phospholipid membrane.
Filtration sampling of large volumes of air allowed us to obtain airborne particulate matter from a number of test sites that included office and industrial space. Membrane lipids were extracted from the filter, the lipids fractionated and the polar lipid fraction analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. This provided quantitative data which enabled determination of the microbial biomass, community composition and physiological activity of the airborne microorganisms. For comparison with the conventional methodology, we also sampled the culturable bacterial and fungal biomass at each test location. The airborne viable biomass as measured by phospholipid fatty acid analysis was 2-3 orders of magnitude greater than that measured using plate cultural techniques.