2. Academic Validation
  3. Seasonal and COVID-19 lockdown variations in PM2.5 composition to apoptosis pathways and chemical toxicity in lung cells

Seasonal and COVID-19 lockdown variations in PM2.5 composition to apoptosis pathways and chemical toxicity in lung cells

  • Biochim Biophys Acta Gen Subj. 2025 Oct 4;1869(12):130864. doi: 10.1016/j.bbagen.2025.130864.
Ting-Hsuan Wu 1,  Yu-Cheng Chen 2,  Hong-Lin Chan 3,  Hsiu-Chuan Chou 4
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Institute of Analytical and Environmental Sciences, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, ROC.
  • 2 National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Miaoli, Taiwan, ROC.
  • 3 Institute of Analytical and Environmental Sciences, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Medical Science and Institute of Bioinformatics and Structural Biology, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, ROC. Electronic address: hlchan@life.nthu.edu.tw.
  • 4 Institute of Analytical and Environmental Sciences, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, ROC. Electronic address: chouhc@mx.nthu.edu.tw.
PMID: 41052548 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbagen.2025.130864
Abstract

Objective: To investigate seasonal and COVID-19-lockdown variations in PM2.5 chemical composition in Taipei and the effects of those compositional differences on lung cell toxicity.

Methods: PM2.5 was collected in warm (2021/07-2021/08) and cold (2021/11-2022/02) seasons and during LV2/LV3 COVID-19 alert periods. Composition (metals, PAHs) was analyzed and A549 and PC9 lung cells were exposed to equal mass concentrations (0-100 μg/mL) of extracted PM2.5. Cell viability, ROS, Apoptosis, mitochondrial membrane potential and GSH/GPX4 were measured.

Results: At equivalent mass concentrations (50 μg/mL), warm-season PM2.5 induced higher ROS and greater reduction in viability than cold-season PM2.5. LV2-period PM2.5 contained higher metal content and caused more severe cellular damage than LV3. Spearman correlation plus single-compound assays identified cadmium and Dibenzo[a,e]pyrene as components strongly associated with cytotoxicity.

Conclusions: Seasonal and human-activity driven compositional changes-rather than mass concentration alone-affect PM2.5 toxicity in vitro; these results underscore the importance of controlling specific chemical emissions.

Keywords

Apoptosis; GSH; Lung cells; Particulate matters.

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