Influence of Krakow Winter and Summer Dusts on the Redox Cycling of Vitamin B12a in the Presence of Ascorbic Acid

Abstract

Air pollution remains a serious problem in Krakow, Poland. According to the European Environmental Agency, annual mean levels of both PM2.5 and PM10 recorded in Krakow are much higher than EU limit values. Thus, the influence of particulate matter (PM) on the function of living organisms, as well as different physiological processes, is an urgent subject to be studied. The reported research forms part of the multi-disciplinary project ‘Air Pollution versus Autoimmunity: Role of multiphase aqueous Inorganic Chemistry,’ which aims to demonstrate the PM effect on the immune system. The present studies focused on the role of dust collected in Krakow on the redox cycling of vitamin B12a in the presence of ascorbic acid. Dust samples collected during the winter 2019/2020 and summer 2020 months in the city center of Krakow were characterized using various analytical techniques. The influence of Krakow dusts on the kinetics of the reaction between nitrocobalamin and ascorbic acid was confirmed and discussed in terms of the composition of the samples. Possible reasons for the reported findings are provided.

A Personal Account on Inorganic Reaction Mechanisms

“…The addition of Kraków dust samples caused similar effects as NIST PM samples. In both cases, winter and summer Kraków dusts, the presence of the material in the reaction mixture causes the acceleration of the reaction between CblNO 2 and Asc [12] . Interestingly for both winter and summer samples, the observed effect was similar.…”

“…Interestingly for both winter and summer samples, the observed effect was similar. On the other hand, it was also demonstrated that the Kraków dust samples are characterized by similar amounts of the analyzed transition metal components as the NIST PM sample [12] . The results discussed can be explained by the report [11] in which the role of the content of Fe, Mn, Cu, and other transition metals, was studied.…”

“…Recent studies on this system refer to the presence of particulate matter (PM) in the reaction solution and its influence on the kinetics and mechanism of CblNO formation. For this purpose, a series of experiments with the addition of the urban PM samples to the reaction mixture were conducted [11–13] . Thus, the authors discuss a very important topic – how air pollution and especially inorganic components affect the redox physiological/biological processes [11–13] .…”

“… Schematic presentation of the simultaneous reduction of nitrite and CblOH 2 by HAsc − to form CblNO in two subsequent reaction steps involving the ascorbate radical [6,12] . Copyrights: open access on license CC BY‐NC‐ND 4.0.…”

“…For this purpose, a series of experiments with the addition of the urban PM samples to the reaction mixture were conducted. [11][12][13] Thus, the authors discuss a very important topic -how air pollution and especially inorganic components affect the redox physiological/biological processes. [11][12][13] This aspect of the research involves both samples of the urban PM [11,12] as well as model compounds (nano metal oxides [11,13] ).…”