Phenotypic and Metabolomic Characterization of 3D Lung Cell Cultures Exposed to Airborne Particulate Matter from Three Air Quality Network Stations in Catalonia

Abstract

Air pollution constitutes an environmental problem that it is known to cause many serious adverse effects on the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. The chemical characterization of particulate matter (PM) is key for a better understanding of the associations between chemistry and toxicological effects. In this work, the chemical composition and biological effects of fifteen PM10 air filter samples from three air quality stations in Catalonia with contrasting air quality backgrounds were investigated. Three-dimensional (3D) lung cancer cell cultures were exposed to these sample extracts, and cytotoxicity, reactive oxygen species (ROS) induction, metabolomics, and lipidomics were explored. The factor analysis method Multivariate Curve Resolution–Alternating Least-Squares (MCR-ALS) was employed for an integrated interpretation of the associations between chemical composition and biological effects, which could be related to urban traffic emission, biomass burning smoke, and secondary aerosols. In this pilot study, a novel strategy combining new approach methodologies and chemometrics provided new insights into the biomolecular changes in lung cells associated with different sources of air pollution. This approach can be applied in further research on air pollution toxicity to improve our understanding of the causality between chemistry and its effects.

Effects of Indoor Dust Exposure on Lung Cells: Association of Chemical Composition with Phenotypic and Lipid Changes in a 3D Lung Cancer Cell Model

“…Concerning cell cultures, the use of three-dimensional (3D) cell cultures has emerged to increase the physiological relevance to the toxicological assays due to their ability to better mimic the cell-to-cell and cell-to-extracellular matrix interactions compared to the traditional monolayer cultures . In this line, a recent study applied 3D alginate spheroids to investigate the toxicological effects of particulate matter on lung cells …”

“… 13 In this line, a recent study applied 3D alginate spheroids to investigate the toxicological effects of particulate matter on lung cells. 14 …”

Biological Impact of Organic Extracts from Urban-Air Particulate Matter: An In Vitro Study of Cytotoxic and Metabolic Effects in Lung Cells

“…By enabling a comprehensive and multiparametric assessment of variations in tens of metabolites simultaneously and with high reproducibility, untargeted metabolomics represents an exceptionally powerful tool for evaluating metabolic changes within cultured cells [32,33]. In recent years, metabolomics has been increasingly applied to investigate how lung cells respond to various PM samples, including certified reference materials [34,35] and environmental samples sourced from different locations, namely in China [36][37][38][39][40] and Spain [41,42]. The diverse array of findings arising from these studies underscores the dependence of metabolism modulation on PM features and exposure conditions, thus emphasizing the critical significance of incorporating metabolomic techniques into the biological evaluation of the effects exerted by PM.…”