Carbon black-benzo(a)pyrene complex-induced apoptosis and autophagy blockage in rat alveolar macrophages

Abstract

Cooking of foods and the burning of biomass and fossil fuels in stoves are the main sources of cooking fumes, with carbon black and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons as main components. The toxicity of carbon black and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons has been well studied individually, but the combined toxicity is much less understood. Carbon black can adsorb benzo(a)pyrene to form a complex which displays an altered physical form which in this study has been constructed to simulate particles in the cooking fumes and explore the combined toxic effect on rat alveolar macrophages. The complex-induced cell apoptosis and blocked cell autophagy flux compared with both individually. The mechanism of toxicity may be by intracellular reactive oxygen species generation, impairing the mitochondrial membrane potential and activating apoptosis signaling pathways.