engleski

Understanding air pollution impact at the cellular level: translation of real-scenario exposure to in vitro

Air pollution remains a major issue in environmental and public health and has been recognized by leading world authorities as a risk factor associated with adverse health outcomes. In addition to cancer, exposure to air pollutants has been linked to the onset of cardiovascular and respiratory disease, as well as premature mortality. The most important pollutants to note are particulate matter (PM), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), volatile organic compounds (VOC), and toxic metals. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the possible cytogenotoxic effects of a complex mixture of PAHs and toxic metals in vitro in a range of concentrations of air pollutants from 0.5 to 50 cm3/mL. The mixture was prepared based on the outdoor air pollution monitoring data in Zagreb (Croatia) collected during our human biomonitoring study in the colder period of the year 2021 representing the translation of real-scenario exposure to in vitro. Cytogenotoxicity was evaluated on human peripheral blood cells employing the cell viability assay and the alkaline comet assay intended for the assessment of primary DNA damage to better understand the mechanism of action of the tested mixture. Based on the obtained results, we did not observe any impact of the complex mixture on cell viability that remained similar compared to the non-treated cells. As for the DNA damaging effect, only the highest tested concertation (50 cm3/mL) was able to increase primary strand breaks as measured by the % tail DNA as the comet assay descriptor. Our results indicate the necessity of testing complex mixtures that may pose a risk to cell and genome integrity in a complex environment, especially at low environmentally relevant concentrations. Since oxidative stress and inflammation are suspected mechanisms of action of air pollution, further research will include various biomarkers of oxidative stress as well as other biomarkers of genomic instability in order to avoid any possible adverse effects on the environment and human health.

air pollution, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, toxic metals, cytogenotoxicity, human peripheral blood cells

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