Effects of urban coarse particles inhalation on oxidative and inflammatory parameters in the mouse lung and colon

• Published in: Particle and fibre toxicology 2017-11, Vol.14 (1), p.46-46, Article 46
• Main Authors: Vignal, Cécile, Pichavant, Muriel, Alleman, Laurent Y, Djouina, Madjid, Dingreville, Florian, Perdrix, Esperanza, Waxin, Christophe, Ouali Alami, Adil, Gower-Rousseau, Corinne, Desreumaux, Pierre, Body-Malapel, Mathilde
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acetylcysteine; Air Pollutants; Air pollution; Allergology; Analysis; Animal models; Animals; Antioxidants; Asthma; Bacterial pneumonia; Bioavailability; Bronchitis; Chronic illnesses; Cigarette smoke; Cigarettes; Coarse PM; Colon; Cysteine; Cystine; Cytokines; Ecology, environment; Gastrointestinal system; Gastrointestinal tract; Gut-lung axis; Health; Human health and pathology; Hépatology and Gastroenterology; Immune response; Immune system; Immunology; Inflammation; Inflammation Mediators; Inflammatory bowel disease; Inflammatory diseases; Influenza; Influenza viruses; Inhalation; Inhalation Exposure; Intestine; Life Sciences; Lung; Lung diseases; Lungs; Male; Metals; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Microbiota; N-acetyl-L-cysteine; Oral administration; Oxidative Stress; Particle Size; Particulate emissions; Particulate Matter; Pneumonia; Pollutants; Pollution; Pulmonology and respiratory tract; Respiration; Smoke; Smoking; Solubility; Solvents; Virus diseases; Viruses; Water
• ISSN: 1743-8977; 1743-8977
• DOI: 10.1186/s12989-017-0227-z

Air pollution is a recognized aggravating factor for pulmonary diseases and has notably deleterious effects on asthma, bronchitis and pneumonia. Recent studies suggest that air pollution may also cause adverse effects in the gastrointestinal tract. Accumulating experimental evidence shows that immune responses in the pulmonary and intestinal mucosae are closely interrelated, and that gut-lung crosstalk controls pathophysiological processes such as responses to cigarette smoke and influenza virus infection. Our first aim was to collect urban coarse particulate matter (PM) and to characterize them for elemental content, gastric bioaccessibility, and oxidative potential; our second aim was to determine the short-term effects of urban coarse PM inhalation on pulmonary and colonic mucosae in mice, and to test the hypothesis that the well-known antioxidant N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) reverses the effects of PM inhalation. The collected PM had classical features of urban particles and possessed oxidative potential partly attributable to their metal fraction. Bioaccessibility study confirmed the high solubility of some metals at the gastric level. Male mice were exposed to urban coarse PM in a ventilated inhalation chamber for 15 days at a concentration relevant to episodic elevation peak of air pollution. Coarse PM inhalation induced systemic oxidative stress, recruited immune cells to the lung, and increased cytokine levels in the lung and colon. Concomitant oral administration of NAC reversed all the observed effects relative to the inhalation of coarse PM. Coarse PM-induced low-grade inflammation in the lung and colon is mediated by oxidative stress and deserves more investigation as potentiating factor for inflammatory diseases.