Maternal Particulate Matter Exposure Impairs Lung Health and Is Associated with Mitochondrial Damage

Baoming Wang; Yik-Lung Chan; Gerard Li; Kin Fai Ho; Ayad G Anwer; Bradford J Smith; Hai Guo; Bin Jalaludin; Cristan Herbert; Paul S Thomas; Jiayan Liao; David G Chapman; Paul S Foster; Sonia Saad; Hui Chen; Brian G Oliver

doi:10.3390/antiox10071029

Maternal Particulate Matter Exposure Impairs Lung Health and Is Associated with Mitochondrial Damage

Antioxidants (Basel). 2021 Jun 25;10(7):1029. doi: 10.3390/antiox10071029.

Authors

Baoming Wang^{1

2}, Yik-Lung Chan^{1

2}, Gerard Li¹, Kin Fai Ho³, Ayad G Anwer⁴, Bradford J Smith⁵, Hai Guo⁶, Bin Jalaludin^{7

8}, Cristan Herbert⁹, Paul S Thomas⁹, Jiayan Liao¹⁰, David G Chapman^{1

2}, Paul S Foster¹¹, Sonia Saad¹², Hui Chen¹, Brian G Oliver^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Science, School of Life Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW 2007, Australia.
² Respiratory Cellular and Molecular Biology, Woolcock Institute of Medical Research, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2037, Australia.
³ Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
⁴ ARC Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale Biophotonics, Faculty of Engineering, Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
⁵ Department of Bioengineering, Department of Paediatric Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.
⁶ Air Quality Studies, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China.
⁷ Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
⁸ Centre for Air Pollution, Energy and Health Research (CAR), Woolcock Institute of Medical Research, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2037, Australia.
⁹ Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, School of Medical Sciences, Prince of Wales' Clinical School, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
¹⁰ Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices, Faculty of Science, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW 2007, Australia.
¹¹ Priority Research Centre for Healthy Lungs, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia.
¹² Renal Group, Kolling Institute of Medical Research, The University of Sydney, St Leonards, Sydney, NSW 2064, Australia.

Abstract

Relatively little is known about the transgenerational effects of chronic maternal exposure to low-level traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) on the offspring lung health, nor are the effects of removing such exposure before pregnancy. Female BALB/c mice were exposed to PM_2.5 (PM_2.5, 5 µg/day) for 6 weeks before mating and during gestation and lactation; in a subgroup, PM was removed when mating started to model mothers moving to cleaner areas during pregnancy to protect their unborn child (Pre-exposure). Lung pathology was characterised in both dams and offspring. A subcohort of female offspring was also exposed to ovalbumin to model allergic airways disease. PM_2.5 and Pre-exposure dams exhibited airways hyper-responsiveness (AHR) with mucus hypersecretion, increased mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) and mitochondrial dysfunction in the lungs. Female offspring from PM_2.5 and Pre-exposure dams displayed AHR with increased lung inflammation and mitochondrial ROS production, while males only displayed increased lung inflammation. After the ovalbumin challenge, AHR was increased in female offspring from PM_2.5 dams compared with those from control dams. Using an in vitro model, the mitochondria-targeted antioxidant MitoQ reversed mitochondrial dysfunction by PM stimulation, suggesting that the lung pathology in offspring is driven by dysfunctional mitochondria. In conclusion, chronic exposure to low doses of PM_2.5 exerted transgenerational impairment on lung health.

Keywords: air pollution; asthma; lung function; mitochondrial dysfunction; reactive oxygen species.

Abstract

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