Air pollution has been considered a hazard to human health. In the past decades, many studies highlighted the role of ambient airborne particulate matter (PM) as an important environmental pollutant for many different cardiopulmonary diseases and lung cancer. Numerous epidemiological studies in the past 30 years found a strong exposure-response relationship between PM for short-term effects (premature mortality, hospital admissions) and long-term or cumulative health effects (morbidity, lung cancer, cardiovascular and cardiopulmonary diseases, etc). Current research on airborne particle-induced health effects investigates the critical characteristics of particulate matter that determine their biological effects. Several independent groups of investigators have shown that the size of the airborne particles and their surface area determine the potential to elicit inflammatory injury, oxidative damage, and other biological effects. These effects are stronger for fine and ultrafine particles because they can penetrate deeper into the airways of the respiratory tract and can reach the alveoli in which 50% are retained in the lung parenchyma. Composition of the PM varies greatly and depends on many factors. The major components of PM are transition metals, ions (sulfate, nitrate), organic compound, quinoid stable radicals of carbonaceous material, minerals, reactive gases, and materials of biologic origin. Results from toxicological research have shown that PM have several mechanisms of adverse cellular effects, such as cytotoxicity through oxidative stress mechanisms, oxygen-free radical-generating activity, DNA oxidative damage, mutagenicity, and stimulation of proinflammatory factors. In this review, the results of the most recent epidemiological and toxicological studies are summarized. In general, the evaluation of most of these studies shows that the smaller the size of PM the higher the toxicity through mechanisms of oxidative stress and inflammation. Some studies showed that the extractable organic compounds (a variety of chemicals with mutagenic and cytotoxic properties) contribute to various mechanisms of cytotoxicity; in addition, the water-soluble faction (mainly transition metals with redox potential) play an important role in the initiation of oxidative DNA damage and membrane lipid peroxidation. Associations between chemical compositions and particle toxicity tend to be stronger for the fine and ultrafine PM size fractions. Vehicular exhaust particles are found to be most responsible for small-sized airborne PM air pollution in urban areas. With these aspects in mind, future research should aim at establishing a cleared picture of the cytotoxic and carcinogenic mechanisms of PM in the lungs, as well as mechanisms of formation during internal engine combustion processes and other sources of airborne fine particles of air pollution.

Airborne particulate matter and human health: toxicological assessment and importance of size and composition of particles for oxidative damage and carcinogenic mechanisms

Fragmented or otherwise miniaturized plastic materials in the form of micro- or nanoplastics have been of nagging environmental concern. Perturbation of organismal physiology and behavior by micro- and nanoplastics have been widely documented for marine invertebrates. Some of these effects are also manifested by larger marine vertebrates such as fishes. More recently, possible effects of micro- and nanoplastics on mammalian gut microbiota as well as host cellular and metabolic toxicity have been reported in mouse models. Human exposure to micro- and nanoplastics occurs largely through ingestion, as these are found in food or derived from food packaging, but also in a less well-defined manner though inhalation. The pathophysiological consequences of acute and chronic micro- and nanoplastics exposure in the mammalian system, particularly humans, are yet unclear. In this review, we focus on the recent findings related to the potential toxicity and detrimental effects of micro- and nanoplastics as demonstrated in mouse models as well as human cell lines. The prevailing data suggest that micro- and nanoplastics accumulation in mammalian and human tissues would likely have negative, yet unclear long-term consequences. There is a need for cellular and systemic toxicity due to micro- and nanoplastics to be better illuminated, and the underlying mechanisms defined by further work.

Toxicity of Microplastics and Nanoplastics in Mammalian Systems

With the development of nanotechnology, there is a tremendous growth of the application of nanomaterials, which increases the risk of human exposure to these nanomaterials through inhalation, ingestion, and dermal penetration. Among different types of nanoparticles, single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) with extremely small size (1 nm in diameter) exhibit extraordinary properties and offer possibilities to create materials with astounding features. Since the release of nanoparticles in an enclosed environment is of great concern, a study of possible genotoxic effects is important. Our previous data showed that pharyngeal aspiration of SWCNT elicited pulmonary effects in C57BL/6 mice that was promoted by a robust, acute inflammatory reaction with early onset resulting in progressive interstitial fibrogenic response and the formation of granulomas. In the present study, the genotoxic potential of SWCNT was evaluated in vitro. The genotoxic effects of nanoparticles were examined using three different test systems: the comet assay and micronucleus (MN) test in a lung fibroblast (V79) cell line, and the Salmonella gene mutation assay in strains YG1024/YG1029. Cytotoxicity tests showed loss of viability in a concentration- and time-dependent manner after exposure of cells to SWCNT. Results from the comet assay demonstrated the induction of DNA damage after only 3 h of incubation with 96 microg/cm2 of SWCNT. The MN test indicated some but not significant micronucleus induction by SWCNT in the V79 cell line at the highest concentrations tested. With two different strains of Salmonella typhimurium, no mutations were found following SWCNT exposure.

Single-walled carbon nanotubes: geno- and cytotoxic effects in lung fibroblast V79 cells.

Estimation of the mass of microplastics ingested - A pivotal first step towards human health risk assessment.

Microplastics and associated contaminants in the aquatic environment: A review on their ecotoxicological effects, trophic transfer, and potential impacts to human health.

Several studies have provided information on environmental nanoplastic particles/debris, but the in vitro cyto-genotoxicity is still insufficiently characterized. The aim of this study is to analyze the effects of polystyrene nanoparticles (PNPs) in the Hs27 cell line. The viability of Hs27 cells was determined following exposure at different time windows and PNP concentrations. The genotoxic effects of the PNPs were evaluated by the cytokinesis-block micronucleus (CBMN) assay after exposure to PNPs. We performed ROS analysis on HS27 cells to detect reactive oxygen species at different times and treatments in the presence of PNPs alone and PNPs added to the Crocus sativus L. extract. The different parameters of the CBMN test showed DNA damage, resulting in the increased formation of micronuclei and nuclear buds. We noted a greater increase in ROS production in the short treatment times, in contrast, PNPs added to Crocus sativus extract showed the ability to reduce ROS production. Finally, the SEM-EDX analysis showed a three-dimensional structure of the PNPs with an elemental composition given by C and O. This work defines PNP toxicity resulting in DNA damage and underlines the emerging problem of polystyrene nanoparticles, which extends transversely from the environment to humans; further studies are needed to clarify the internalization process.

In Vitro Genotoxicity of Polystyrene Nanoparticles on the Human Fibroblast Hs27 Cell Line.

Properties of sintered glass-ceramics in the diopside-albite system

The influence of grain size on the surface crystallization kinetics is investigated by non-isothermal Differential Thermal Analysis and Scanning Electron Microscopy. For this purpose, different powder fractions of a model glass forming diopside via surface crystallization and crystallization induced porosity, are used. The activation energy of crystallization, EC, is determined from Kissinger plot, and the Avrami parameter, m, is estimated by both Ozawa and of Augis–Bennett methods. The values of EC decrease from 530 to 300 kJ/mol when grain size increases. Simultaneously, the m value drops from 2.5 to 1.3. This result contradicts to the widespread fallacy that the reaction order should be equal to one in the case of surface crystallization. During the initial stage of surface crystallization three dimensional growth takes place, a fact confirmed by the SEM investigations. Later on, one dimensional growth inwards the grain is observed, leading to the reaction order changes from 3 to 1.

Variation of Avrami parameter during non-isothermal surface crystallization of glass powders with different sizes

Diagnostics of wall paintings: A smart and reliable approach

The possibility to obtain sintered material from alkaline basaltic tuffs is demonstrated. The parent rock was milled for 10–15 min, the resulting powder was pressed at 100 MPa and the obtained samples were heat-treated in the range of 1000–1140 °C. The sintering behaviour and the phase formation were studied by pycnometry, dilatometry, DTA, XRD and SEM. The final material was obtained by sintering at 1100 °C and is characterized by zero water absorption, 8–9 vol.% closed porosity and a structure similar to a glass-ceramic. Due to high crystallization trend of used composition, phase formation takes place during the sintering and cooling steps; this leads to a crystallinity of ∼60% and formation of different crystal phases (pyroxene, anorthite, spinel and hematite). Despite the low-cost production cycle the obtained material is characterized by high mechanical properties: bending strength of 100 MPa and Young modulus of 90 GPa.

Lorenzo Arrizza

Papers

In Vitro Genotoxicity of Polystyrene Nanoparticles on the Human Fibroblast Hs27 Cell Line.

Properties of sintered glass-ceramics in the diopside-albite system

Variation of Avrami parameter during non-isothermal surface crystallization of glass powders with different sizes

Diagnostics of wall paintings: A smart and reliable approach

Sintered material from alkaline basaltic tuffs