Ambient particulate air pollution and circulating antioxidant enzymes: A repeated-measure study in healthy adults in Beijing, China

The association of systemic antioxidant activity with ambient air pollution has been unclear. A panel of 40 healthy college students underwent repeated blood collection for 12 occasions under three exposure scenarios before and after relocating from a suburban area to an urban area in Beijing, China in 2010-2011. We measured various air pollutants including fine particles (PM2.5) and determined circulating levels of antioxidant enzymes extracellular superoxide dismutase (EC-SOD) and glutathione peroxidase 1 (GPX1) in the laboratory. An interquartile range increase of 63.4 μg/m3 at 3-d PM2.5 moving average was associated with a 6.3% (95% CI: 0.6, 12.4) increase in EC-SOD and a 5.5% (95% CI: 1.3, 9.8) increase in GPX1. Several PM2.5 chemical constituents, including negative ions (nitrate and chloride) and metals (e.g., iron and strontium), were consistently associated with increases in EC-SOD and GPX1. Our results support activation of circulating antioxidant enzymes following exposure to particulate air pollution.