Direct Particle-to-Cell Deposition of Coarse Ambient Paniculate Matter Increases the Production of Inflammatory Mediators from Cultured Human Airway Epithelial Cells

摘要

Exposure of cultured cells to paniculate matter air pollution is usually accomplished by collecting particles on a solid matrix, extracting the particles from the matrix, suspending them in liquid, and applying the suspension to cells grown on plastic and submerged in medium. The objective of this work was to develop a more physiologically and environmentally relevant model of air pollutant deposition on cultures of human primary airway epithelial cells. We hypothesize that the toxicology of inhaled paniculate matter depends strongly on both the paniculate dispersion state and the mode of delivery to cells. Our exposure system employs a combination of unipolar charging and electrostatic force to deposit particles directly from the air onto cells grown at an air-liquid interface in a heated, humidified exposure chamber. Normal human bronchial epithelial cells exposed to concentrated, coarse ambient paniculate matter in this system expressed increased levels of inflammatory biomarkers at 1 h following exposure and relative to controls exposed to particle-free air. More importantly, these effects are seen at paniculate loadings that are 1-2 orders of magnitude lower than levels applied using traditional in vitro systems.