Abstract
Epidemiological research has taught us a great deal about the health effects of airborne particulate matter (PM), particularly cardiorespiratory effects of combustion-related particles. This has been matched by toxicological research to define underlying mechanistic pathways. To keep abreast of the substantial challenges that air pollution continues to throw at us requires yet more strides to be achieved. For example, being aware of the most toxic components/sources and having a definitive idea of the range of associated disease outcomes. This review discusses approaches designed to close some of these knowledge gaps. These include a focus on particles arising from non-exhaust PM at the roadside and microplastics—both of which are becoming more relevant in the light of a shift in PM composition in response to global pressure to reduce combustion emissions. The application of hypothesis-free approaches in both mechanistic studies and epidemiology in unveiling unexpected relationships and generating novel insights is also discussed. Previous work, strengthening the evidence for both the adverse effects and benefits of intervention tell us that the sooner we act to close knowledge gaps, increase awareness and develop creative solutions, the sooner we can reduce the public health burden attributable to these complex and insidious environmental pollutants.This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Air quality, past present and future’.
Highlights
Epidemiological research has taught us a great deal about the health effects of airborne particulate matter (PM), cardiorespiratory effects of combustion-related particles
These include a focus on particles arising from non-exhaust PM at the roadside and microplastics—both of which are becoming more relevant in the light of a shift in PM composition in response to global pressure to reduce combustion emissions
The epidemiological work has been matched by a considerable toxicological research effort to define the underlying mechanistic pathways of toxicity elicited by airborne PM, and again the lungs and cardiovascular system have been well studied
Summary
I.e. the final consequence of biological function, their profiles in biological samples report on actual functional status. The staggeringly large amounts of information of such global analyses should not, be underestimated and gaining biologically relevant conclusions from a given metabolomics dataset requires a specialized data analysis Notwithstanding such challenges, identifying metabolite perturbations caused by air pollution exposure is a relevant and promising approach in characterizing the interactions of living organisms with their environment by identifying disregulated molecular pathways and predicting health endpoints [60]. Experimental studies have investigated shifts in the metabolite profiles of bronchial wash (BW) and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) of healthy volunteers following exposure to biodiesel exhaust (BDE) compared with filtered air [61,62]. TRAP cystine 5-oxoproline cysteine glutamate glutathione vitamin E anti-oxidation histidine
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
