engleski

Air Pollution Impact On Genomic Instability In People Living In Zagreb (Croatia)

Increased road traffic and industrial and energy production contribute to urban air pollution worldwide. Consequently, cities are hotspots for air pollution, representing a global health threat, resulting in millions of premature deaths annually. The HUMNap project aims to provide scientifically based data on how air pollution can affect genomic instability and our health by determining possible associations between air pollutants and biomarkers of exposure and early biological effects. In the first part of the project, we retrospectively evaluated genomic instability using the comet and micronucleus assays on blood cells in a sample (N=130) of the general population living in Zagreb (Croatia) and associated these results with air pollution levels in the period from 2011 to 2015. We did not observe a significant positive association between parameters tested and measured air pollution parameters except for benzo(a)pyrene (B[a]P), which showed a significant negative association. Our results show that the measured air pollution parameters were largely below regulatory limits, except for B[a]P. In the prospective part of the study, we investigated possible effects of air pollution and BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, o-, m- and p-xylene) exposure on genomic instability using the comet and micronucleus assays on blood in addition to buccal cells in a sample (N = 60) of the general population living in Zagreb (Croatia) during colder and warmer periods in 2021-2022. All measured outdoor air pollution parameters agreed with previously reported values and were below the regulatory limit, except for PM10 particles and B[a]P bound to PM10, which exceeded regulatory limit levels. Again, we did not observe the noteworthy impact of air pollution on tested parameters. Since air pollution is identified as a major health threat, further research investigating the effect of air pollution on genome integrity and human health is warranted. It will prioritize other cities where exposure to different air pollutants is expected. Supported by the Croatian Science Foundation (HUMNap)

BTEX ; genomic instability ; alkaline comet assay ; air pollution

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