Proinflammatory effects of dust storm and thermal inversion particulate matter (PM10) on human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in vitro: a comparative approach and analysis

Zahra Atafar; Zahra Pourpak; Masud Yunesian; Mohammad Hossein Nicknam; Mohammad Sadegh Hassanvand; Narjes Soleimanifar; Shiva Saghafi; Zahra Alizadeh; Soheila Rezaei; Maryam Ghanbarian; Mohammad Ghanbari Ghozikali; Alvaro R Osornio-Vargas; Kazem Naddafi

doi:10.1007/s40201-019-00362-1

Proinflammatory effects of dust storm and thermal inversion particulate matter (PM₁₀) on human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in vitro: a comparative approach and analysis

J Environ Health Sci Eng. 2019 Apr 18;17(1):433-444. doi: 10.1007/s40201-019-00362-1. eCollection 2019 Jun.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ 1Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
² 2Immunology, Asthma and Allergy Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
³ 3Research Methodology and Data Analysis Department, Institute for Environmental Research (IER), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
⁴ 4Molecular Immunology Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
⁵ 5Department of Immunology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
⁶ 6Center for Air Pollution Research (CAPR), Institute for Environmental Research (IER), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
⁷ 7Health and Environment Research Center, Tabriz university of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
⁸ 8Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.

Abstract

Particulate matter (PM) as the carcinogenic air pollutants can lead to aggravated health outcomes. Epidemiological studies demonstrated that PM can be engaged in different diseases such as cardiovascular, respiratory and cancer. The in vitro secretion of proinflammatory cytokines by human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) has been used to assess the effects of PM with an aerodynamic diameter < 10 μm (PM₁₀). This study compared the proinflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin 6 (IL-6), and interleukin 1-beta (IL1-β) secretions of PBMCs exposed to PM₁₀ of dust storm and inversion. We collected PM₁₀ samples during the spring and autumn seasons in two locations. Isolated PBMCs were exposed separately to 50, 150, and 300 μg/ml of different type of PM₁₀ for 4 and 24 h. The mean concentrations of TNF-α for the PM of dust storm and inversion were 6305.61 ± 2421 and 6651.74 ± 2820, respectively. Also the mean concentrations of IL1-β for the PM of dust storm and inversion were 556.86 ± 162 and 656.35 ± 196, respectively. Furthermore, these values for the production of IL-6 were 12,655 ± 5661 and 16,685 ± 8069, respectively. Although no significant difference was observed between the PM of dust storm and that of inversion with regard to PBMCs, the results showed a significant increase in the proinflammatory cytokine secretion of both PMs compared with the controls. Moreover, TNF-α, IL1-β, and IL-6 secreted in cells exposed to PM₁₀ of dust storm were about 10 times more than the controls, these values for cells exposed to PM₁₀ of inversion were around 10, 12, and 14 times more than the controls, respectively. It can be concluded that the PM₁₀ of both dust storm and inversion can play a significant role in proinflammatory cytokine secretion due to its harmful effect on human health. Graphical abstractThis picture shows the Proinflammatory cytokine producing potential of PM₁₀ with two sources (dust storm and urban air pollution) in exposure with human PBMCs in vitro.

Keywords: Dust storm; In vitro; Inversion; PBMCs; Proinflammatory cytokine; Tehran.