A Breath of Not-So-Fresh Air: the Combined Effects of Air and Noise Pollution Blog post by Jasmin Skinner As of 2022, more than 55% of the worlds population reside in urban settings, with that number expected to rise to 80% by 2050 (1). As a direct consequence, more than 4.3 billion people are exposed to pollution daily, often from multiple sources simultaneously. Particulate matter (PM), or air pollution, is thought to be responsible for approximately 8.8 million deaths per year, and this is without even considering the exacerbation of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases such as asthma and arrhythmia (2). While the health effects of air pollution have been well documented, few studies have evaluated the combined effect of air and noise pollution. As PM exposure rarely occurs in isolation, assessing the combined impact of several types of pollutants on health provides a more realistic and accurate depiction of the impact of urban living; with this knowledge becoming increasingly important as urban centers densify. In this blog, we discuss a recent publication from Kuntic et al., in which they provide one of the first reports on the adverse health effects of both simultaneous and individual exposure of mice to aircraft noise and airborne PM. The authors specifically focused on how these pollutants affect the murine cerebro-pulmonary-cardiovascular axis, and what gene regulatory effects were observed within these organ systems (3). https://insidescientific.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Assessing-Toxicity-and-Health-Risks-of-E-cigarettes-How-to-take-aim-at-a-moving-target_FI-300x183.png Assessing Toxicity and Health Risks of E-cigarettes: How to Take Aim at a Moving Target This webinar features Dr. Emma Karey as she presents evidence of the first- and second-hand exposure risks of vaping, discusses how public perceptions influence e-cigarette usage, and provides a translational framework for integrating scientific principles and novel conditions. WATCH NOW

Study Parameters and Protocol

Kuntic et al., first compared three standardized National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) PM mixtures: diesel particles (NIST1), urban atmospheric PM (NIST2), and fine PM of less than four micrometers in diameter (NIST3). This comparison was intended to determine which PM mixture most closely reproduced pathophysiological effects observed in urban settings. The results of the pilot study indicated that NIST2 most reliably reproduced detrimental effects and was thus used for the main study (3). To evaluate the putative additive effects of exposure to PM and noise, 172 male mice were divided into 4 groups: PM only, noise only, PM and noise, and fresh air with no noise. Mice were exposed to the various test conditions for approximately six hours per day during their natural rest period for three consecutive days. The PM concentration used was approximately 200_g/m3 and equivalent to that observed in highly polluted cities. Blood pressure was measured during these procedures using a non-invasive tail cuff; after three days, tissues from the heart, brain, and lung tissues were extracted for protein expression analysis. Additionally, retinal, cerebral, and aortic vasculature were extracted to determine vascular function post-procedure (3).

How does pollution affect the respiratory system?

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