The ultrafine particles (UFP), unlike coarse and fine particles, could escape from physiological pulmonary defenses due to their smaller dimension and could penetrate to the deepest airways, entering the bloodstream. Among all the pollutants spread in the airways, UFP showed the higher pro-inflammatory power, probably because of their intrinsic chemical properties, high particle number per volume unity and high capacity deposition in the lungs. An experimental in vitro model has been set up to investigate the UFP cytotoxicity on cell cultures: cell lines, derived from carcinomic human alveolar basal epithelial cells(A549), were treated with aqueous solution to different concentrations of UFP and incubated for 96h. The UFP cytotoxicity was evaluated using the Cytotox 96 assay to determine the number of vital cells by measuring the content of lactic dehydrogenase enzyme(LDH). Moreover, through time-lapse microscopy, the evolution of biological phenomena was monitored overtime, capturing images of cell cultures for 24h in order to assess the morphological changes induced by UFP on the A549 cells. The results obtained by our studies show that UFP interacts with A549 cells causing a reduction in cellular vitality; the citotoxicity essays also show a gradual decrease of cells number, related to increasing of UFP concentration.
Particolato Ultrafine ed Effetti sull’organismo: Studio Della Tossicità Cellulare
PEDATA, Paola;LAMBERTI, Monica;Giuliano M;MIRAGLIA, Nadia;SANNOLO, Nicola
2008
Abstract
The ultrafine particles (UFP), unlike coarse and fine particles, could escape from physiological pulmonary defenses due to their smaller dimension and could penetrate to the deepest airways, entering the bloodstream. Among all the pollutants spread in the airways, UFP showed the higher pro-inflammatory power, probably because of their intrinsic chemical properties, high particle number per volume unity and high capacity deposition in the lungs. An experimental in vitro model has been set up to investigate the UFP cytotoxicity on cell cultures: cell lines, derived from carcinomic human alveolar basal epithelial cells(A549), were treated with aqueous solution to different concentrations of UFP and incubated for 96h. The UFP cytotoxicity was evaluated using the Cytotox 96 assay to determine the number of vital cells by measuring the content of lactic dehydrogenase enzyme(LDH). Moreover, through time-lapse microscopy, the evolution of biological phenomena was monitored overtime, capturing images of cell cultures for 24h in order to assess the morphological changes induced by UFP on the A549 cells. The results obtained by our studies show that UFP interacts with A549 cells causing a reduction in cellular vitality; the citotoxicity essays also show a gradual decrease of cells number, related to increasing of UFP concentration.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.