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Updated: May 20, 2026

Methodology for Sputum Induction and Laboratory Processing
Published on: December 17, 2017
Induced sputum, exhaled NO, and breath condensate in occupational medicine
Nathalie Chérot-Kornobis1, Sebastien Hulo, Virginie de Broucker
1Laboratoire Universitaire de Médecine du Travail-Université Lille 2, Faculté de Médecine-Pôle Recherche, 1 Place de Verdun, 59 045 Lille, France. nathalie.cherot@univ-lille2.fr
Objective:
Studies of fractional exhaled NO (FeNO) or induced sputum are now well standardized and the exponential increase in publications about exhaled breath condensate reflects growing interest in a noninvasive diagnosis of pulmonary diseases in occupational medicine.
Methods:
This review describes current techniques (FeNO, induced sputum, and exhaled breath condensate) for the study of inflammation and oxidative stress biomarkers.
Results:
These biomarkers are FeNO, cytokines, H2O2, 8-isoprostane, malondialdehyde, and nitrogen oxides. These techniques also include the study of markers of the toxic burden in the lungs (heavy metals and mineral compounds) that are important in occupational health exposure assessment.
Conclusions:
In occupational medicine, the study of both volatile and nonvolatile respiratory biomarkers can be useful in medical surveillance of exposed workers, the early identification of respiratory diseases, or the monitoring of their development.
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