Chem. Res. Toxicol. 2004, 17, 63-74
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Environmental Fine Particulate Matter (PM 2.5) Activates the RAW 264.7 Macrophage Cell Line Even at Very Low Concentrations as Revealed by 1H NMR Maria Teresa Santini,*,†,‡ Gabriella Rainaldi,†,‡ Antonella Ferrante,† Rocco Romano,‡,§ Stefania Clemente,§ Andrea Motta,| Barbara De Berardis,† Maria Balduzzi,⊥ Luigi Paoletti,† and Pietro Luigi Indovina‡,§ Laboratorio di Ultrastrutture, Istituto Superiore di Sanita` , Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy, Istituto Nazionale per la Fisica della Materia, Unita` di Napoli and Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, Universita` di Napoli “Federico II”, Complesso Universitario Monte S. Angelo, Via Cinthia, 80126 Naples, Italy, Istituto di Chimica Biomolecolare del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Comprensorio Olivetti, Via Campi Flegrei 34, 80078 Pozzuoli, Naples, Italy, and UTS Biotecnologie, Protezione dell’Ambiente e degli Ecosistemi, ENEA, Via Anguillarese 301, 00060 Rome, Italy Received June 11, 2003
Because of the association between inhalation of airborne particulate matter (PM) and human respiratory and cardiovascular disease, it is necessary to understand the tissue damage induced by these particles. One of the cell types principally involved in the body’s reaction to PM are macrophages, which remove particles in the airway passages and the lungs through phagocytosis. In fact, when macrophages are exposed to a toxic agent such as PM, they undergo a series of changes (including variations in morphology, an increase in glycolysis, and consequent lactate production and the release of cytokines such as interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factorR) necessary to transform them from “resting” to “activated” macrophages. Because 1H NMR is extremely useful in monitoring, noninvasively, macrophage metabolism and because this technique has never been utilized to examine macrophage activation after exposure to PM, it was the purpose of the present study to investigate the effects of PM exposure on the RAW 264.7 stabilized macrophage cell line using 1H NMR spectroscopy. PM with a diameter
