Development of a new method for isolation of urban air particulates deposited in the human lung tissue

• Published in: Chemosphere (Oxford) 2021-10, Vol.280, p.130585-130585, Article 130585
• Main Authors: Shamsollahi, Hamid Reza, Kharrazi, Sharmin, jahanbin, Behnaz, Rafieian, Shahab, Dehghani, Mohammad Hadi, Yunesian, Masud
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acellularization; Air pollution; ECM; Lung; PM2.5
• ISSN: 0045-6535; 1879-1298
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.130585

Particulate matters (PMs) are important pollutants in urban air pollution because of their variable composition. The pulmonary clearance of PMs is critical to prevent long-term immunological responses. This study established a new method for the isolation of probably deposited urban air particulates from the human lung tissue, to investigate the features of uncleared particulates. The lung samples were acellularized with SDS solution of various concentrations ranging from 1 to 10%to lyse cells and release the PMs. In addition, the extracellular matrix (ECM) that remained was digested by proteinase K enzyme. The results of this study demonstrated that an SDS solution of 4% is the optimum concentration for the isolation of settled PMs from the lung tissue. Moreover, the used enzymatic method could separate settled PMs from the lung ECM appropriately. The results exhibited that epithelial cells form 46% of the samples’ weight on average, whereas just 20% of isolated PMs were found in this part of the tissue. Both groups of separated PMs tend to agglomerate, but it is significantly higher in cellular isolated PMs. The particles separated from ECM have an agglomeration tendency, which is observable only by FE-SEM imaging. Moreover, we found a major part of urban air PMs deposited in ECM. The established method in this study can be used in future investigations to isolate other types of PMs settled in the lung, such as occupationally inhaled carbonaceous particulates. •A method for the isolation of remaining PMs from the human lung cells and ECM, separately.•A method to facilitate investigation on lung clearance of inhaled urban PMs.•Description of the real status of PMs deposition in various parts of the lung.