Is atherosclerotic disease associated with organic components of ambient fine particles?

Andrew J Keebaugh; Constantinos Sioutas; Payam Pakbin; James J Schauer; Loyda B Mendez; Michael T Kleinman

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.06.048

Is atherosclerotic disease associated with organic components of ambient fine particles?

Sci Total Environ. 2015 Nov 15:533:69-75. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.06.048. Epub 2015 Jul 4.

Authors

Andrew J Keebaugh¹, Constantinos Sioutas², Payam Pakbin², James J Schauer³, Loyda B Mendez⁴, Michael T Kleinman⁵

Affiliations

¹ Occupational and Environmental Medicine Division, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine (UCI), Irvine, CA, USA.
² Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
³ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Madison WI, USA.
⁴ School of Science and Technology, Universidad del Este, Carolina, PR, USA.
⁵ Occupational and Environmental Medicine Division, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine (UCI), Irvine, CA, USA. Electronic address: mtkleinm@uci.edu.

PMID: 26151650
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.06.048

Abstract

Heart disease is a major killer in western societies; coronary artery disease and atherosclerosis are important contributors to this mortality. Atherosclerosis in mice with a deleted apoE gene (apoE-/-) is accelerated by exposure to ambient ultrafine particles (UFP) which are particles smaller than 180 nm in diameter. UFP contain organic components that are pro-oxidant and may cause or aggravate heart disease. Could removal of these organic constituents mitigate adverse cardiovascular effects? ApoE-/- mice were exposed to concentrated UFP (CAP), CAP from which organic constituents were removed by thermal denuding (deCAP) or purified air (controls) for 5 hr/day, 4 days/week for 8 weeks. Heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV), biomarkers of oxidative stress and the sizes of arterial plaques were measured. Adverse effects were seen in CAP-exposed mice (increased size of arterial plaque, increased oxidative stress and decreased HRV, compared to controls). Adverse effects were not observed in deCAP-exposed mice. Removal of organic constituents from ambient particles resulted in significant reduction of toxic cardiovascular effects of air pollution exposure.

Keywords: Ambient PM; atherosclerosis; cardiovascular disease; heart rate variability.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Air Pollutants / toxicity*
Air Pollution
Animals
Apolipoproteins E
Atherosclerosis / chemically induced*
Inhalation Exposure
Mice
Oxidative Stress
Particulate Matter / toxicity*

Substances

Air Pollutants
Apolipoproteins E
Particulate Matter