Toxicological effects of long-term continuous exposure to ambient air on human bronchial epithelial Calu-3 cells exposed at the air-liquid interface.

Air pollution significantly contributes to the global burden of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. While single source/compound studies dominate current research, long-term, multi-pollutant studies are crucial to understanding the health impacts of environmental aerosols. Our study aimed to use the first air-liquid interface (ALI) aerosol exposure system adapted for long-term in vitro exposures for ambient air in vitro exposure.

The chemical composition of secondary organic aerosols regulates transcriptomic and metabolomic signaling in an epithelial-endothelial in vitro coculture.

Background: The formation of secondary organic aerosols (SOA) by atmospheric oxidation reactions substantially contributes to the burden of fine particulate matter (PM), which has been associated with adverse health effects (e.g., cardiovascular diseases).

Generation, characterization, and toxicological assessment of reference ultrafine soot particles with different organic content for inhalation toxicological studies.

Ultrafine particles (UFP) are the smallest atmospheric particulate matter linked to air pollution-related diseases. The extent to which UFP's physical and chemical properties contribute to its toxicity remains unclear. It is hypothesized that UFP act as carriers for chemicals that drive biological responses.

Rock-to-Pharma: Characterization of Shale Oil-Based Nonbiological Complex Drugs along the Production Process by High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry.

Antibiotic resistance has become a primary concern in medicine because of the overuse and misuse of classical pharmaceuticals. Recently, nonbiological complex drugs (NBCDs) have gained interest for their complex pharmacological profiles. Bituminosulfonates, which have lately been tentatively allocated toward NBCDs, are pharmacologically well-studied and show low potential in resistance development.

How do different marine engine fuels and wet scrubbing affect gaseous air pollutants and ozone formation potential from ship emissions?

Sulphur Emission Control Areas (SECAs), mandated by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), regulate fuel sulphur content (FSC) to mitigate the environmental and health impact of shipping emissions in coastal areas. Currently, FSC is limited to 0.1% (w/w) within and 0.

Chemical Fingerprinting of Biomass Burning Organic Aerosols from Sugar Cane Combustion: Complementary Findings from Field and Laboratory Studies.

Agricultural fires are a major source of biomass-burning organic aerosols (BBOAs) with impacts on health, the environment, and climate. In this study, globally relevant BBOA emissions from the combustion of sugar cane in both field and laboratory experiments were analyzed using comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The derived chemical fingerprints of fresh emissions were evaluated using targeted and nontargeted evaluation approaches.

Automated SEM/EDX imaging for the in-depth characterization of non-exhaust traffic emissions from the Munich subway system.

A SEM/EDX based automated measurement and classification algorithm was tested as a method for the in-depth analysis of micro-environments in the Munich subway using a custom build mobile measurements system. Sampling was conducted at platform stations, to investigate the personal exposure of commuters to subway particulate matter during platform stays. EDX spectra and morphological features of all analyzed particles were automatically obtained and particles were automatically classified based on pre-defined chemical and morphological boundaries.

Applying a risk assessment guided evaluation for verifying comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography to analyse complex pharmaceuticals.

The reliability of analytical results is critical and indispensable when applied in regulated environments such as the pharmaceutical industry. Therefore, analytical workflows must be validated. However, validation guidelines are often designed for quantitative targeted analysis and rarely apply to qualitative untargeted approaches.

Brown Coal and Logwood Combustion in a Modern Heating Appliance: The Impact of Combustion Quality and Fuel on Organic Aerosol Composition.

Residential heating with solid fuels is one of the major drivers for poor air quality in Central and Eastern Europe, and coal is still one of the major fuels in countries, such as Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary. In this work, emissions from a single-room heater fueled with brown coal briquettes (BCBs) and spruce logs (SLs) were analyzed for signatures of inorganic as well as semivolatile aromatic and low-volatile organic constituents. High variations in organic carbon (OC) emissions of BCB emissions, ranging from 5 to 22 mg MJ, were associated to variations in carbon monoxide (CO) emissions, ranging from 900 to 1900 mg MJ.

Construction of an In Vitro Air-Liquid Interface Exposure System to Assess the Toxicological Impact of Gas and Particle Phase of Semi-Volatile Organic Compounds.

Anthropogenic activities and industrialization render continuous human exposure to semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) inevitable. Occupational monitoring and safety implementations consider the inhalation exposure of SVOCs as critically relevant. Due to the inherent properties of SVOCs as gas/particle mixtures, risk assessment strategies should consider particle size-segregated SVOC association and the relevance of released gas phase fractions.

An alternative model considering cell-cell interactions in fiber-induced pulmonary fibrosis.

Particularly since the wide-ranging health effects of asbestos exposure became known, great emphasis has been placed on detailed toxicity testing of known but also newly developed fiber materials. Exposure to respirable pollutants like fibers can lead to tissue injury causing lung diseases such as pulmonary fibrosis or cancer. In order to detect the toxic potential of such aerosols at an early stage, the development of suitable test systems is essential.

Analysis of complex drugs by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography and high-resolution mass spectrometry: detailed chemical description of the active pharmaceutical ingredient sodium bituminosulfonate and its process intermediates.

The European pharmacopeia provides analytical methods for the chemical characterization of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). However, the complexity of some APIs exceeds the limitations of the currently prevailing physicochemical methods. Sodium bituminosulfonate (SBS) is described by the collection of key parameters of generalizing criteria such as dry matter, sulfur and sodium content, and neutrality, but techniques to unravel the complexity on a molecular level are lacking.

Detection of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in High Organic Carbon Ultrafine Particle Extracts by Electrospray Ionization Ultrahigh-Resolution Mass Spectrometry.

The detection of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by electrospray ionization (ESI) without additional reagents or targeted setup changes to the ionization source was observed in ultrafine particle (UFP) extracts, with high organic carbon (OC) concentrations, generated by a combustion aerosol standard (CAST) soot generator. Particulate matter (PM) was collected on filters, extracted with methanol, and analyzed by ESI Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS). Next to oxygen-containing species, pure hydrocarbons were found to be one of the most abundant compound classes, detected as [M + Na] or [M + H] in ESI+ and mostly as [M - H] in ESI-.

The priming effect of diesel exhaust on native pollen exposure at the air-liquid interface.

Unlabelled: Pollen related allergic diseases have been increasing for decades. The reasons for this increase are unknown, but environmental pollution like diesel exhaust seem to play a role. While previous studies explored the effects of pollen extracts, we studied here for the first time priming effects of diesel exhaust on native pollen exposure using a novel experimental setup.

Size-Resolved Community Structure of Bacteria and Fungi Transported by Dust in the Middle East.

The atmosphere plays an important role in transporting microorganisms on a global scale, yet the processes affecting the composition of the airborne microbiome, the aerobiome, are not fully outlined. Here we present the community compositions of bacteria and fungi obtained by DNA amplicon-sequencing of aerosol samples collected in a size-resolved manner during nine consecutive days in central Israel. The campaign captured dust events originating from the Sahara and the Arabian deserts, as well as days without dust ("clear days").

The Response of Airborne Mycobiome to Dust Storms in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Airborne microbial communities directly impact the health of humans, animals, plants, and receiving ecosystems. While airborne bacterial and fungal communities have been studied by both cultivation-based methods and metabarcoding surveys targeting specific molecular markers, fewer studies have used shotgun metagenomics to study the airborne mycobiome. We analyzed the diversity and relative abundance of fungi in nine airborne metagenomes collected on clear days ("background") and during dust storms in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Adenine derivatization for LC-MS/MS epigenetic DNA modifications studies on monocytic THP-1 cells exposed to reference particulate matter.

The aim of this study was to explore the impact of three different standard reference particulate matter (ERM-CZ100, SRM-1649, and SRM-2975) on epigenetic DNA modifications including cytosine methylation, cytosine hydroxymethylation, and adenine methylation. For the determination of low levels of adenine methylation, we developed and applied a novel DNA nucleobase chemical derivatization and combined it with liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. The developed method was applied for the analysis of epigenetic modifications in monocytic THP-1 cells exposed to the three different reference particulate matter for 24 h and 48 h.

Influence of wood species on toxicity of log-wood stove combustion aerosols: a parallel animal and air-liquid interface cell exposure study on spruce and pine smoke.

Background: Wood combustion emissions have been studied previously either by in vitro or in vivo models using collected particles, yet most studies have neglected gaseous compounds. Furthermore, a more accurate and holistic view of the toxicity of aerosols can be gained with parallel in vitro and in vivo studies using direct exposure methods. Moreover, modern exposure techniques such as air-liquid interface (ALI) exposures enable better assessment of the toxicity of the applied aerosols than, for example, the previous state-of-the-art submerged cell exposure techniques.

Early pulmonary response is critical for extra-pulmonary carbon nanoparticle mediated effects: comparison of inhalation versus intra-arterial infusion exposures in mice.

Background: The death toll associated with inhaled ambient particulate matter (PM) is attributed mainly to cardio-vascular rather than pulmonary effects. However, it is unclear whether the key event for cardiovascular impairment is particle translocation from lung to circulation (direct effect) or indirect effects due to pulmonary particle-cell interactions. In this work, we addressed this issue by exposing healthy mice via inhalation and intra-arterial infusion (IAI) to carbon nanoparticles (CNP) as surrogate for soot, a major constituent of (ultrafine) urban PM.

Effects of ultrafine particles on the allergic inflammation in the lung of asthmatics: results of a double-blinded randomized cross-over clinical pilot study.

Background: Epidemiological and experimental studies suggest that exposure to ultrafine particles (UFP) might aggravate the allergic inflammation of the lung in asthmatics.

Methods: We exposed 12 allergic asthmatics in two subgroups in a double-blinded randomized cross-over design, first to freshly generated ultrafine carbon particles (64 μg/m³; 6.1 ± 0.