Abstract
Previous studies have shown that physicochemical properties of hair can be impacted by internal and environmental exposures ranging from chemical stressors to weather. Besides the effects on hair, these exposures, termed “exposome”, can act on specific organs including skin, as a synergistic damaging effect of UV exposure and pollution on human surfaces. The combination of several environmental factors such as sun exposure, temperature, relative humidity, air pollution and photo-oxidation caused by ground level ozone impacts hair properties such as melanin oxidation, protein content, surface quality and structural components. Therefore, exposome studies can reveal new hypotheses on how epithelia and hair could be affected by daily life environment and routine. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of several environmental aggressors on human surfaces, using portable and wearable devices for monitoring exposome. To better understand the underlying mechanisms associated with environmental factors, two subjects wore multiple sensors to capture the meteorological conditions biking through urban areas in summer and winter. Temperature, humidity, UV radiation and ozone concentration were recorded and hair swatches of different types, including natural, bleached/colored, colored and gray, were exposed on the helmets. Silicon wristbands were used on skin to identify main chemical aggressors. After exposure, hair swatches were analyzed by surface microscopy analysis, oxidation markers and more than 1,500 chemicals were evaluated on the bracelets. Correlated with GPS and monitoring data, all these results provide insights on how environmental stressors affect the quality of different hair types and body surface according to exposure routine. Our results suggest extreme climate conditions associated with hair damage and photo-oxidative marker linked to the environmental aggressors. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) indicate possible causes of hair damages. This is the first meteorotropic study of its kind, combining environmental aggressors related to hair damage, opening new research hypothesis further studies on exposome.
Highlights
Pollution and/or sun exposure are a global concern for human health, and the associated effects of environmental exposure on skin have been studied[1,2,3,4]
Epidemiological and mechanistic studies suggest that air pollution can affect skin integrity[8] and its combination with UV exposure can result in aggravated effects to skin health, since some pollutants are photo-reactive and phototoxic[4]
Hair samples were evaluated pre- and after post-environmental exposure using approaches such as Electron Microcopy and cysteic acid quantification to link people routine to environmental impacts on hair properties. This is the first meteorotropic study of its kind, combined with an exposome approach to assess the impacts on hair, generating relevant knowledge to create new hypotheses on environmental impacts due to exposition under extreme UV and climate conditions found in Brazil
Summary
Pollution and/or sun exposure are a global concern for human health, and the associated effects of environmental exposure on skin have been studied[1,2,3,4]. Krutmann and colleagues listed six major categories of compounds that can impact the skin status and aging: (i) sun radiations, such as ultraviolet radiation, visible light and infrared rays, (ii) air pollution, (iii) tobacco smoke, (iv) nutrition, (v) miscellaneous factors (stress, sleep, temperature) and (vi) misuse of cosmetic products. These factors cover what is called the skin aging exposome[6]. Eumelanin presents a higher photostability than pheomelanin, justifying why fair hair is not as resistant to photodegradation as dark hair[13]
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