大气颗粒物物理化学属性致病效应与损伤机制的研究进展

近些年,我国大气颗粒物所带来的健康问题越发突出,由此产生的环境疾病日益引起人们的广泛关注。大量的流行病学和毒理学研究发现,大气颗粒物能引起呼吸系统、心血管系统、神经系统、免疫系统等的损伤,造成新生儿出生缺陷,增加罹患癌症的风险,且与人群发病率和死亡率上升有关。但是由于大气颗粒物物化属性比较复杂,一种或几种损伤机制并不能完全解释其与致病效应的关系,因此具体的损伤机制目前还没有统一的说法,大气颗粒物物理化学属性与致病效应的关系仍在探索当中。本文从大气颗粒物的粒径、浓度、比表面积、来源、成分等基本属性入手,剖析其基本特点和可能影响健康的原因,探讨大气颗粒物通过氧化损伤途径诱导致病效应,并结合当前大气颗粒物健康影响研究现状提出在未来研究中应注重的相关内容。

The Research Progress in Physiochemical Properties of Atmospheric Particulate Matters for Health Effects and Mechanisms

Recently, the health effects and environmental implications of atmospheric particulate matters (PM) have attracted much attention around the world, especially in China. PM could induce some serious diseases, for instance, asthma, lung cancer, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Many epidemiological and toxicological studies have focused on the adverse effects of PM on respiratory, cardiovascular, nervous and immune systems. Moreover, the promotion of human morbidity and mortality by PM was also reported. The present work reviewed the effects of PM physiochemical properties on the health of human and animals. The studies to illustrate the effect mechanisms by one or two PM properties are not reasonable. Notably, the adverse effects are determined by the multiple properties of PM, and the relevant mechanisms are largely unknown. Herein, the global properties of PM, including particle size, concentration, specific surface area, source and composition, were discussed. The oxidative stress induced by PM is considered as the main mechanism of adverse effects on respiratory, cardiovascular, immune, and neural systems. The oxidative potentials, the metallic contents, and the generation of free radicals linked to the upregulation of oxidative stress. And then, the upregulation of oxidative stress trigged cytotoxicity, inflammation factors and genotoxicity. However, the biological molecular pathways of oxidative stress increasing remain obscure in the studies of PM. Finally, this review proposed the future work that should be emphasized: (i) the synergetic adverse effects of PM induced by their multiple properties together; (ii) the threshold values and standards for the regulation of PM adverse effects according to multiple properties rather than concentration alone; and (iii) the mechanisms of oxidative stress based on free radicals and protein signals.