Health Effects of Urban Atmospheric Aerosols

Duarte, Regina M.B.O.; Duarte, Armando C.

doi:10.3390/atmos14020309

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 10 publications

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“…In fact, PM can be particularly dangerous, since it can contain harmful substances such as PAHs, N-heterocyclic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, chlorinated pesticides, toxic metals, and other persistent compounds that can rapidly enter and accumulate in living organisms and potentially lead to biomagnification [2][3][4][5]. These types of contaminants, especially atmospheric fine particulates (PM1 or PM2.5), are linked to several risks to human health, such as damage to the respiratory tract and cardiopulmonary disorders [6,7]. Thus, PM is often associated with several adverse effects, including the risk of lung cancer and pro-inflammatory effects leading to numerous health issues in humans [8][9][10][11][12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Exposure to Urban Atmospheric Particulate Matter Suspended in Seawater on the Mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis

Rodrigues,

Ferreira,

Duarte

et al. 2024

Environments

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Atmospheric particulate matter (PM) contains numerous constituents, including organic molecules, inorganic ions, and metals, with some of them possessing hazardous properties. Although mainly associated with air pollution, PM can rapidly be transferred from air and land to aquatic ecosystems, and consequently poses a risk to marine biota. The aim of this work was to evaluate how urban atmospheric PM (a standard reference mixture of urban PM, known to contain various organic and inorganic contaminants), suspended in seawater, may cause toxicity in marine organisms. To this purpose, mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) were exposed to two concentrations of suspended PM: 5.7 and 11.4 mg/L. After 7, 14, and 21 days, the animals were collected and the gills and digestive gland were analysed for stress biomarkers (CAT, SOD, GPX, GST, MDA, and Ubi). In general, the results show that exposure to different concentrations of PM caused an increase in GST, UBI, and GPx activities compared to their respective controls. The average activities of GST (87.65 ± 30.23 nmol/min/mg of total protein) in the gills of the animals exposed to 11.4 mg/L of PM increased after 21 days of exposure, and the activity of GPx (8.04 ± 3.09 nmol/min/mg of total protein) in the gills increased after 14 days in the animals exposed to 5.7 mg/L of PM. MDA results also provided information on cellular damage, with the most pronounced effects being found in the gills of exposed mussels. This study confirms that mussels are useful as “early warning” indicators of environmental contamination and provides important information on the effects of PM on marine biota.

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