Potential urinary biomarkers in young adults with short-term exposure to particulate matter and bioaerosols identified using an unbiased metabolomic approach. (15th July 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Li, Guang-xi; Duan, Yuan-yuan; Wang, Yi; Bian, Ling-jie; Xiong, Meng-ran; Song, Wen-pin; Zhang, Xia; Li, Biao; Dai, Yu-long; Lu, Jia-wei; Li, Meng; Liu, Zhi-guo; Liu, Shi-gang; Zhang, Li; Yao, Hong-juan; Shao, Rong-guang; Li, Liang
• Is Part Of: Environmental pollution. Volume 305(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-07-15
• Subjects: Outdoor air pollution -- Particulate matter -- Airborne bioaerosol -- Gas/liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry -- Metabolomics -- Metabolic biomarker; C exposure to clean air -- COVID-19 coronavirus disease 2019 -- DM differential metabolite -- GC-MS gas chromatography–mass spectrometry -- KEGG Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes -- LC-MS liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry -- OPLS-DA orthogonal partial least-squares discriminant analysis -- PCA principal-component analysis -- PLS-DA partial least-squares discriminant analysis -- PM particulate matter -- PM10 particulate matter with an aerodynamic equivalent diameter of <10 μm -- PM2.5 particulate matter with an aerodynamic equivalent diameter of ≤2.5 μm -- Po1 exposure to polluted air for the first time -- Po2 re-exposure to polluted air -- Pu1 exposure to purified air for the first time -- Pu2 re-exposure to purified air -- SARS-CoV-2 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Pollution -- Periodicals; Pollution -- Environmental aspects -- Periodicals; Environmental Pollution -- Periodicals; Pollution -- Périodiques; Pollution -- Aspect de l'environnement -- Périodiques; Pollution -- Effets physiologiques -- Périodiques; Pollution; Pollution -- Environmental aspects; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 363.73
• DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2022.119308
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0269-7491

Abstract

Abstract: Numerous epidemiological studies have shown a close relationship between outdoor air pollution and increased risks for cancer, infection, and cardiopulmonary diseases. However, very few studies have investigated the potential health effects of coexposure to airborne particulate matter (PM) and bioaerosols through the transmission of infectious agents, particularly under the current circumstances of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. In this study, we aimed to identify urinary metabolite biomarkers that might serve as clinically predictive or diagnostic standards for relevant diseases in a real-time manner. We performed an unbiased gas/liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC/LC-MS) approach to detect urinary metabolites in 92 samples from young healthy individuals collected at three different time points after exposure to clean air, polluted ambient, or purified air, as well as two additional time points after air repollution or repurification. Subsequently, we compared the metabolomic profiles between the two time points using an integrated analysis, along with Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes-enriched pathway and time-series analysis. We identified 33 and 155 differential metabolites (DMs) associated with PM and bioaerosol exposure using GC/LC-MS and follow-up analyses, respectively. Our findings suggest that 16-dehydroprogesterone and 4-hydroxyphenylethanol in urine samples may serve as potential biomarkers to predict or diagnose PM- or bioaerosol-related diseases, respectively. The results indicated apparent differences between PM- and bioaerosol-associated DMs at five different time points and revealed dynamic alterations in the urinary metabolic profiles of young healthy humans with cyclic exposure to clean and polluted air environments. Our findings will help in investigating the detrimental health effects of short-term coexposure to airborne PM and bioaerosols in a real-time manner and improve clinically predictive or diagnostic strategies for preventing air pollution-related diseases. Graphical abstract: Image 1 Highlights: We detected urinary metabolites in 92 samples from young healthy individuals. Gas/liquid chromatography–mass spectroscopy was used for detection. Differential metabolites were linked to particulate matter and bioaerosol exposure. Urinary 16-dehydroprogesterone may be a potential biomarker for particulate matter. Urinary 4-hydroxyphenylethanol may be a potential biomarker for bioaerosols.