Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
5560863 | NeuroToxicology | 2017 | 8 Pages |
Abstract
Exposure to ambient particulate matter (PM) has been associated with the onset of neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders, but the mechanism of toxicity remains unclear. To gain insight into this neurotoxicity, this study sought to examine global gene expression changes caused by exposure to ambient ultrafine PM. Microarray analysis was performed on primary human neurons derived from fetal brain tissue after a 24 h exposure to 20 μg/mL of ambient ultrafine particles. We found a majority of the changes in noncoding RNAs, which are involved in epigenetic regulation of gene expression, and thereby could impact the expression of several other protein coding gene targets. Although neurons from biologically different lot numbers were used, we found a significant increase in the expression of metallothionein 1A and 1F in all samples after exposure to particulate matter as confirmed by quantitative PCR. These metallothionein 1 proteins are responsible for neuroprotection after exposure to environmental insult but prolonged induction can be toxic. Epidemiological studies have reported that in utero exposure to ultrafine PM not only leads to neurodevelopmental and behavioral abnormalities, but may also predispose the progeny to neurodegenerative disease later in life by genetic imprinting. Our results pinpoint some of the PM-induced genetic changes that may underlie these findings.
Keywords
Related Topics
Life Sciences
Environmental Science
Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis
Authors
Parrisa Solaimani, Arian Saffari, Constantinos Sioutas, Stephen C. Bondy, Arezoo Campbell,