Oxidative stress, short-term exposure to air pollution, and lung function in children
Volume
50
Publisher
Publisher URL
DOI
10.1183/1393003.congress-2017.PA2645
ISSN
0903-1936
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Background: Although the mechanism underlying air pollution exposure’s adverse effects on lung function is unclear, oxidative stress is implicated in a range of adverse health effects of air pollution. Urinary 8-Oxo-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-oxo-dG) is a marker of DNA oxidation and oxidative stress. We sought to assess associations’ between oxidative stress and exposure to fossil fuel derived air pollution in children living in London (UK).
Methods: After informed parental consent, healthy children aged 8-14 were recruited from schools in Greater London. Spot urine samples were analysed for 8-oxo-dG using a commercially available ELISA (Trevigen) and normalised against creatinine concentrations. Lung function (FEV1, FVC) was performed on the same day. Children’s short to long term exposure to particulate matter <10 microns (PM10), PM2.5, nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and nitrogen oxides (NOx) was using the London Air Quality Toolkit (LAQT) expressed as mean concentration over the previous 48h, 3mo and 12mo, based on home address. Preliminary statistical analysis was done by Spearman’s rank correlation.
Results: 398 children were recruited. 8-oxo-dG was negatively correlated with both FEV1 (-0.166, p=0.002) and FVC (-0.119, p=0.024). 8-oxo-dG positively correlated with modelled exposure at the participants’ home address for the previous 48 h for; NO2 (0.172, p=0.003), NOX (0.161, p=0.005), PM10 (0.163, p=0.005), and PM2.5 (0.117, p=0.04).
Discussion
These results suggest that oxidative stress is one mechanism underlying the short-term effects of pollutant exposure on lung function in healthy children. We speculate that 8-oxo-dg is a putative biomarker for assessing exposure reduction interventions in this age group.