Abstract View
In Vitro Toxicity of Complex Aerosols from Woody Biomass Combustion
WILLIAM VIZUETE, Karsten Baumann, Jose Zavala, Prakash Doraiswamy, Jean Kim, Solomon Bililign, Marc Fiddler, Damon Smith, Robert Newman, Ryan Chartier, Hadley Hartwell, Laquaundra Hampton, Ese Ekhator, Jade Scales, Nalyn Siripanichgon, Erin Dowell, Rudra Pokhrel, Vikram Rao, Ninell Mortensen, Jackson Seymore, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Abstract Number: 18
Working Group: Health-Related Aerosols
Abstract
Airborne particulate matter (PM) is responsible for ~4.8 million premature deaths worldwide and 92% of those deaths occur in low and middle income countries (LMICs). In many LMICs exposure to woody biomass combustion emissions alone cause 2.8 million deaths. Emissions from woody biomass consist of PM, various volatile organic compounds, and other gases that are harmful to human health. Epidemiological and toxicological studies, however, have focused separately on the adverse health effects of exposures to gas-phase pollutants or PM. Much less is known about their combined effects or interaction with other pollutants. In addition, most studies use freshly generated particles that have not been photochemically aged. Because the components of PM constantly change due to photochemically-mediated transformations, the overall toxicity of the mixture is also likely to change. Due to the difficulty in producing these types of mixtures, the toxicity of dynamic and complex gas/PM exposures is currently understudied. We hypothesize that fresh and photochemically aged biomass emissions have different biological impacts. Through this work we have generated and chemically characterized fresh and photochemically aged emissions from a hardwood source in an indoor smog chamber and generated real time in vitro exposures of lung epithelial cells to emitted gas/PM mixtures at an air-liquid interface (ALI). This was accomplished using the CelTox Sampler; a novel instrument providing a more sensitive and realistic ALI in vitro exposure that enables studying biological and chemical impacts without the artifacts associated with conventional resuspension methods. The exposed cells were then analyzed for gene expression changes and cytotoxicity levels in an effort to correlate biological data with chemical characterization data. These analyses will provide new insights on the scientific drivers of the health impacts of woody biomass combustion, thereby informing future field studies, interventions, and policy changes.