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Front Public Health. 2022 Jul 14;10:882569. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.882569
The Physiological Effects of Air Pollution:
Particulate Matter,
Physiology and Disease
Jack T Pryor 1,2, Lachlan O Cowley 1, Stephanie E Simonds 1,*
Abstract
Nine out of 10 people breathe air that does not meet World Health Organization pollution limits.
Air pollutants include gasses and particulate matter and collectively are responsible for ~8 million annual deaths.
Particulate matter is the most dangerous form of air pollution,
causing inflammatory and oxidative tissue damage.
A deeper understanding of the physiological effects of particulate matter is needed for effective disease prevention and treatment.
This review will summarize the impact of particulate matter on physiological systems, and where possible will refer to apposite epidemiological and toxicological studies. By discussing a broad cross-section of available data,
we hope this review appeals to a wide readership and provides some insight on the impacts of particulate matter on human health.
Particulate Matter
Particulate matter (PM) are solid compounds suspended in air that are sufficiently small to be inhaled (Figure 1)
. PM is categorized by particle diameter (measured in μm); PM0.1, PM2.5 and PM10 whilst
ambient concentration is usually quantified as μg/m3.
Some PM are of natural origin (bushfires, dust, sea spray, aerosols, etc.) but anthropogenic PM (diesel, coal and biomass combustion and emissions from metal refineries etc.) are the most dangerous to health (13).
High atmospheric concentrations of human-made PM, and toxic and oxidative chemical characteristics render them disproportionately hazardous (13).
Elemental and complex chemical species of PM are diverse, with surface shape, chemistry and charge impacted by emission source and environmental conditions. PM chemistry can change through reactions with other airborne PM and be affected by the oxidative effects of ozone and low ambient pH (14, 15).
Fig 1
To scale illustration of the relative sizes of PM10, PM2.5, and PM0.1. Representative macrophage and mitochondria are included to scale for
Reference
Fig1
Please note review will be continued shortly
