Year: 2024
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Background Air pollution is a global health problem and is predicted to cause millions of deaths annually.1 Previous studies demonstrated that exposure to woodsmoke emissions was associated with an increased risk of respiratory diseases.2 However, the evidence on the association between air pollution from woodsmoke and cardiovascular diseases is not conclusive. Previous evidence suggested the role of tadalafil, a phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE5) inhibitor, in protecting against cardiac hypertrophy in various animal studies.3 Objectives Our objective was to measure the effect of woodsmoke particles on the surface area of neonatal rat ventricular myocytes (NRVM) to detect any signs of hypertrophy. Methods Samples were collected from a wood-burner based at the University of Manchester. Woodsmoke was collected from 2 phases of combustion: flaming and smouldering. Emission particles were immersed in cell maintenance media before cell exposure. NRVM were harvested from 1-2 days old Wister rats. The effect of pollutants on the cell surface area was measured using fluorescent microscopic techniques and software analysis. Results Our results showed an increase in cell surface area in response to increasing pollutant concentrations. Incubation of cells with pollutants and a cardioprotective agent (tadalafil 50nM) was associated with a significantly smaller surface area compared to incubation with pollutants alone. Moreover, incubation of the cells with pollutants first then with a combination of pollutants and PDE5 inhibitor reversed the hypertrophy for both the flaming and smouldering phase groups. Conclusions Our data showed that woodsmoke-derived pollutants induced cardiac hypertrophy in NRVM. The cardiac hypertrophy could be prevented and reversed by a PDEF5 inhibitor. The next phase will be dedicated to exploring the mechanism by which woodsmoke pollutants induce cardiac hypertrophy. References Landrigan PJ, Fuller R, Acosta NJR, Adeyi O, Arnold R, Basu N (Nil), et al. The lancet commission on pollution and health. Lancet 2018;391(10119):462–512. Hutchings DC, Anderson SG, Caldwell JL, Trafford AW. Phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors and the heart: compound cardioprotection? Heart 2018.
Institution: University of Manchester
Language: English
Subfield: Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W4405371864