Effect of the chemical composition of organic extracts from environmental and industrial atmospheric samples on the genotoxicity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons mixtures

Particulate organic matter (PM) present in the atmosphere is a complex mixture of chemicals like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) that may exert adverse health effects including respiratory and cardiovascular disturbances and cancer. In this study, airborne samples from environmental or industrial areas exhibiting different physicochemical composition were compared for their capacities to induce DNA damage in human hepatocytes HepG2. DNA strand breaks and DNA adducts formed by benzo[a]pyrene-7,8-dihydrodiol-9,10-epoxide (BPDE), the most reactive metabolite of the carcinogenic benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P), were measured with the comet assay and by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)/mass spectrometry, respectively. Cells were exposed to organic matter extracted from PM. Experiments were performed either at a constant concentration of B[a]P or at concentrations corresponding to fixed air volumes. Results show that industrial extracts tend to produce more benzo[a]pyrene diol epoxide-N ²-2′-deoxyguanosine (BPDE-N ²-dGuo) DNA adducts than strand breaks, whereas the opposite was observed with environmental extracts. The chemical composition of the extracts significantly impacts the nature and levels of DNA damage. The amount of B[a]P and interaction with other contaminants in the extracts need to be considered to explain the formation of DNA damage. These results emphasize the use of in vitro tests as promising and complementary tools to widely used toxic equivalent factor (TEF) approach in order to assess health hazards related to chemical exposure of the general population.