Assessment of the effects of atmospheric pollutants using the animal model Caenorhabditis elegans

Graziella Ficociello; Agnese Inverni; Lorenzo Massimi; Giulio Buccini; Silvia Canepari; Daniela Uccelletti

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2020.110209

Assessment of the effects of atmospheric pollutants using the animal model Caenorhabditis elegans

Environ Res. 2020 Dec:191:110209. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2020.110209. Epub 2020 Sep 13.

Authors

Graziella Ficociello¹, Agnese Inverni², Lorenzo Massimi³, Giulio Buccini¹, Silvia Canepari³, Daniela Uccelletti⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biology and Biotechnology "Charles Darwin", Sapienza University of Rome, P.le Aldo Moro, 5, 00185, Rome, Italy.
² Department of Biology and Biotechnology "Charles Darwin", Sapienza University of Rome, P.le Aldo Moro, 5, 00185, Rome, Italy; Chemistry Department, Sapienza University of Rome, P.le Aldo Moro, 5, 00185, Rome, Italy.
³ Chemistry Department, Sapienza University of Rome, P.le Aldo Moro, 5, 00185, Rome, Italy.
⁴ Department of Biology and Biotechnology "Charles Darwin", Sapienza University of Rome, P.le Aldo Moro, 5, 00185, Rome, Italy. Electronic address: daniela.uccelletti@uniroma1.it.

PMID: 32937173
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2020.110209

Abstract

Air pollution is recognized as the world's largest environmental health risk. In this work we evaluated in vivo the effects of three relevant components of atmospheric dusts (brake dust, wood pellet ash and Saharan dust) employing the animal model Caenorhabditis elegans. Main endpoints of C. elegans such as life span, brood size and oxidative stress were addressed by exposing the nematodes to different dust concentrations. Brake dust and pellet ash affected the life span and increased significantly the oxidative stress of exposed nematodes, while Saharan dust showed no effects. Water soluble and insoluble fractions of these dusts were used to investigate the impact of the single fraction on C. elegans. The two fractions of brake dust and pellet ash exerted different effects on C. elegans endpoints in terms of life span and oxidative stress response. These fractions acted in different ways on the worm susceptibility to infection of two human pathogens (Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) affecting the sek-1 gene expression. In conclusion, our study showed that C. elegans is a valuable tool to investigate in vivo possible effects of atmospheric dusts.

Keywords: Immunity; Oxidative stress; Particulate matter; Pseudomonas aeruginosa; Staphylococcus aureus.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Africa, Northern
Air Pollutants* / toxicity
Animals
Caenorhabditis elegans
Dust
Environmental Pollutants*
Humans

Substances

Air Pollutants
Dust
Environmental Pollutants