The Biological Effects of Shipping-Related Particulate Matter Air Pollution

与航运相关的颗粒物空气污染的生物效应

• 批准号: BB/P011365/1
• 负责人: Matthew Loxham
• 金额: $ 38.44万
• 依托单位: University of Southampton
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2017 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FP011365%2F1
• 关键词: Biological; Effects; Shipping; Related; Particulate

Outdoor air pollution kills over 3 million people worldwide every year, and 40,000 per year in the UK alone, taking 6 months off the life of the average person. In order to improve our chances of ageing healthily, we need to understand better how air pollution exerts its damaging effects. The component of air pollution most strongly linked to ill-health and death is airborne dust, also known as particulate matter (PM) which is invisible to the naked eye. This PM comes from a variety of sources, such as vehicle exhaust, combustion, erosion of soil by the wind, and sea spray. In turn, the composition of the particles, their size, and shape, depends on where they come from. PM deposits on the cells which line our airways and the air sacs in our lungs, called epithelial cells, and can then affect their functioning. Moreover, PM may potentially enter the cells and cross into the bloodstream. PM can cause sore throat, itchy eyes, cough, and wheezing, but has also been linked to asthma, heart attacks, stroke, and lung cancer.The source and chemical composition of PM is thought to be important in understanding the effects of PM, and therefore we need to investigate a range of sources of PM. One such source is shipping and associated activities. Emissions from ships are thought to kill 60-70,000 people per year worldwide. In addition to ship emissions, dock areas are associated with heavy goods vehicles carrying freight, oil refining, and scrap metal handling. Therefore, there are a number of potential sources of PM, with research needed to understand their differing effects.This study will involve the collection of airborne PM from a number of different sites across Southampton docks. I will analyse the elements and molecules which make up the PM, with special attention to the levels of metals and carbon-based molecules, both of which have been linked to especially damaging effects. Following this, two models to represent the airways will be constructed in the laboratory. Firstly, epithelial cells from the tubes which carry air into the lungs will be grown and exposed to the PM, using different amounts of PM and exposing the cells for different lengths of time. The release of molecules indicating inflammation will be measured, as will the death of cells as a result of PM exposure. Secondly, epithelial cells which line the air sacs in the lungs, and form the surface across which oxygen enters the blood from the lungs, will be grown in close proximity to the cells which line the blood vessels of the lungs (endothelial cells). A high-powered microscope called an electron microscope will be used to assess the extent to which the particles enter the epithelial and endothelial cells, or the gaps between the cells. This will indicate whether the airborne PM might have the ability to enter the bloodstream. In each case, differences in the responses of cells to the PM will be related to the different sources and composition of the particles.Finally, epithelial cells brushed from the airways of volunteers and then grown in the laboratory will be exposed to PM, and changes in levels of molecules called RNAs will be measured. These RNAs represent the cell taking information from its DNA, and converting it to a more useable form, so by measuring millions of RNA molecules in the cells, we can get a much better idea of exactly how the cell is responding to PM. This process can give us excellent insight into the mechanisms of these responses, and might shed new light on changes which occur after we inhale PM. Again, the changes will be related to the different types of PM. We hope that in the future, we might be able to use these changes as "markers" to identify people at risk of the effects of PM. The overall results of the project will give us valuable new information about the different sources of PM around dock areas, the PM composition, and which PM sources might present the greatest risk to our chances of ageing healthily.

室外空气污染每年导致全球超过 300 万人死亡，仅英国每年就有 4 万人死亡，平均寿命缩短 6 个月。为了提高我们健康衰老的机会，我们需要更好地了解空气污染如何产生破坏性影响。空气污染中与健康不佳和死亡关系最密切的成分是空气中的灰尘，也称为肉眼看不见的颗粒物 (PM)。这种颗粒物有多种来源，例如汽车尾气、燃烧、风对土壤的侵蚀以及海浪。反过来，颗粒的成分、尺寸和形状取决于它们的来源。 PM 沉积在呼吸道和肺部气囊的细胞（称为上皮细胞）上，然后会影响其功能。此外，PM 可能会进入细胞并进入血液。 PM 可引起喉咙痛、眼睛发痒、咳嗽和喘息，但也与哮喘、心脏病、中风和肺癌有关。PM 的来源和化学成分被认为对于了解 PM 的影响非常重要，因此我们需要研究 PM 的一系列来源。其中之一就是运输和相关活动。据认为，船舶排放物每年在全球造成 60-70,000 人死亡。除了船舶排放外，码头区域还与运输货物、炼油和废金属处理的重型货车有关。因此，PM 有许多潜在来源，需要进行研究以了解它们的不同影响。这项研究将涉及从南安普顿码头的许多不同地点收集空气中的 PM。我将分析构成颗粒物的元素和分子，特别关注金属和碳基分子的含量，这两种分子都与特别具有破坏性的影响有关。此后，将在实验室中构建两个代表气道的模型。首先，将空气输送到肺部的管道中的上皮细胞将生长并暴露于PM，使用不同量的PM并使细胞暴露不同的时间。将测量指示炎症的分子的释放，以及由于 PM 暴露而导致的细胞死亡。其次，排列在肺部气囊中并形成氧气从肺部进入血液的表面的上皮细胞将在靠近排列在肺部血管的细胞（内皮细胞）附近生长。称为电子显微镜的高倍显微镜将用于评估颗粒进入上皮细胞和内皮细胞或细胞之间间隙的程度。这将表明空气中的颗粒物是否有能力进入血液。在每种情况下，细胞对 PM 的反应差异将与颗粒的不同来源和成分有关。最后，从志愿者气道中刷出并在实验室中培养的上皮细胞将暴露于 PM 中，并测量称为 RNA 的分子水平的变化。这些 RNA 代表细胞从 DNA 中获取信息，并将其转换为更有用的形式，因此通过测量细胞中数百万个 RNA 分子，我们可以更好地了解细胞如何对 PM 做出反应。这个过程可以让我们深入了解这些反应的机制，并可能为我们吸入 PM 后发生的变化提供新的线索。同样，这些变化将与不同类型的 PM 有关。我们希望将来能够利用这些变化作为“标记”来识别面临 PM 影响风险的人群。该项目的总体结果将为我们提供有价值的新信息，包括码头区域周围不同颗粒物来源、颗粒物成分以及哪些颗粒物来源可能对我们健康老龄化的机会构成最大风险。

项目成果

Laboratory Comparison of Low-Cost Particulate Matter Sensors to Measure Transient Events of Pollution - Part B - Particle Number Concentrations

用于测量污染瞬时事件的低成本颗粒物传感器的实验室比较 - B 部分 - 颗粒数浓度

• DOI: 10.20944/preprints202304.0701.v1
• 发表时间: 2023
• 作者: Bulot F

Pseudohypoxic HIF pathway activation dysregulates collagen structure-function in human lung fibrosis.

• DOI: 10.7554/elife.69348
• 发表时间: 2022-02-21
• 期刊: eLife
• 影响因子: 7.7
• 作者: Brereton CJ;Yao L;Davies ER;Zhou Y;Vukmirovic M;Bell JA;Wang S;Ridley RA;Dean LSN;Andriotis OG;Conforti F;Brewitz L;Mohammed S;Wallis T;Tavassoli A;Ewing RM;Alzetani A;Marshall BG;Fletcher SV;Thurner PJ;Fabre A;Kaminski N;Richeldi L;Bhaskar A;Schofield CJ;Loxham M;Davies DE;Wang Y;Jones MG
• 通讯作者: Jones MG

Laboratory Comparison of Low-Cost Particulate Matter Sensors to Measure Transient Events of Pollution-Part B-Particle Number Concentrations.

• DOI: 10.3390/s23177657
• 发表时间: 2023-09-04
• 期刊: Sensors (Basel, Switzerland)
• 作者: Bulot FMJ;Russell HS;Rezaei M;Johnson MS;Ossont SJ;Morris AKR;Basford PJ;Easton NHC;Mitchell HL;Foster GL;Loxham M;Cox SJ
• 通讯作者: Cox SJ

Characterisation and calibration of low-cost PM sensors at high temporal resolution to reference-grade performance.

• DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e15943
• 发表时间: 2023-05
• 期刊: HELIYON
• 影响因子: 4
• 作者: Bulot, Florentin M. J.;Ossont, Steven J.;Morris, Andrew K. R.;Basford, Philip J.;Easton, Natasha H. C.;Mitchell, Hazel L.;Foster, Gavin L.;Cox, Simon J.;Loxham, Matthew
• 通讯作者: Loxham, Matthew