Biomass burning in the Amazon region causes DNA damage and cell death in human lung cells

Nilmara De Oliveira Alves,Carlos Frederico Martins Menck,Milena Simões Peixoto,Sandra De Souza Hacon,Paulo Saldiva,Gustavo Satoru Kajitani,Rodrigo Soares Fortunato,Annabel Quinet,Silvia Regina Batistuzzo De Medeiros,Paulo Artaxo,Alexandre Teixeira Vessoni

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-11024-3

Abstract

Most of the studies on air pollution focus on emissions from fossil fuel burning in urban centers. However, approximately half of the world's population is exposed to air pollution caused by biomass burning emissions. In the Brazilian Amazon population, over 10 million people are directly exposed to high levels of pollutants resulting from deforestation and agricultural fires. This work is the first study to present an integrated view of the effects of inhalable particles present in emissions of biomass burning. Exposing human lung cells to particulate matter smaller than 10 µm (PM10), significantly increased the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS), inflammatory cytokines, autophagy, and DNA damage. Continued PM10 exposure activated apoptosis and necrosis. Interestingly, retene, a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon present in PM10, is a potential compound for the effects of PM10, causing DNA damage and cell death. The PM10 concentrations observed during Amazon biomass burning were sufficient to induce severe adverse effects in human lung cells. Our study provides new data that will help elucidate the mechanism of PM10-mediated lung cancer development. In addition, the results of this study support the establishment of new guidelines for human health protection in regions strongly impacted by biomass burning.

Highlights

Authors Nilmara de Oliveira Alves, Alexandre Teixeira Vessoni, Annabel Quinet, Rodrigo Soares Fortunato, Gustavo Satoru Kajitani, Milena Simões Peixoto, Sandra de Souza Hacon, Paulo Artaxo, Paulo Saldiva, Carlos Frederico Martins Menck, and Silvia Regina Batistuzzo de Medeiros
We first evaluated the viability of human lung epithelial cells (A549 cell line) exposed to 200 and 400 μg.mL−1 of organic particulate matter smaller than 10 μm (PM10) (Fig. 1A)
Since PM collected with different source characteristics was implicated in reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation[26, 27], we investigated the ROS levels in A549 cells exposed to PM10

Summary

Introduction

Authors Nilmara de Oliveira Alves, Alexandre Teixeira Vessoni, Annabel Quinet, Rodrigo Soares Fortunato, Gustavo Satoru Kajitani, Milena Simões Peixoto, Sandra de Souza Hacon, Paulo Artaxo, Paulo Saldiva, Carlos Frederico Martins Menck, and Silvia Regina Batistuzzo de Medeiros. OPEN Biomass burning in the Amazon region causes DNA damage and cell death in human lung cells. Most of the studies on air pollution focus on emissions from fossil fuel burning in urban centers. Approximately half of the world's population is exposed to air pollution caused by biomass burning emissions. Approximately 3 billion people in the world are exposed to air pollution from biomass burning, originating from using wood or coal as cooking fuel in simple stoves, home heating with open fires, deforestation, and agricultural practices[1]. World Health Organization (WHO) reported that in 2012, approximately 7 million people - one in eight total global deaths - as a result of exposure to air pollution[3]. Fire is a global phenomenon, and is an integral part of the earth’s ecosystem[4, 5]

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