AAAR 33rd Annual Conference
October 20 - October 24, 2014
Rosen Shingle Creek
Orlando, Florida, USA
Abstract View
Formation and Transformation of Hazardous Components in the Atmosphere: Reactive Oxygen Species, Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds and Allergenic Proteins
MANABU SHIRAIWA, Andrea Arangio, Kathrin Selzle, Christopher Kampf, Ulrich Poeschl, MPIC
Abstract Number: 232 Working Group: Linking Aerosols with Public Health in a Changing World
Abstract Epidemiological studies show correlations between air particulate matter and adverse health effects of air pollution including allergy, asthma, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, but the causative relations and mechanisms of interaction on the molecular level are still unclear. Based on kinetic experiments and model simulations, we found that long-lived reactive oxygen intermediates (ROIs) are formed upon heterogeneous reactions of ozone with aerosol particles, such as hazardous polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and allergenic proteins. ROIs are defined as the subset of reactive oxygen species (ROS), including organic and inorganic species with reactive oxygen atoms or groups (O, RO, RO2 and so on). ROIs generated by photochemical and heterogeneous reactions in the atmosphere seem to play a key role in aerosol health effects and provide a direct link between atmospheric and physiological multiphase processes through various interfaces, such as plant surfaces and the human respiratory tract. Recent kinetic experiments showed that the nitration reaction of proteins with ozone and nitrogen dioxide proceeds through long-lived ROI, most likely phenoxy radical derivatives of tyrosine (tyrosyl radicals). Allergenic proteins are efficiently oxygenated and nitrated upon exposure to ozone and nitrogen dioxide in the polluted air, leading to an enhancement of their allergenicity.