Abstract
To study central nervous system airborne PM related subchronic toxicity, SD male rats were exposed for eight weeks to either coarse (32 μg/m³), fine (178 μg/m³) or ultrafine (107 μg/m³) concentrated PM or filtered air. Different brain regions (olfactory bulb, frontal cortex, striatum and hippocampus), were harvested from the rats following exposure to airborne PM. Subsequently, prooxidant (HO-1 and SOD-2), and inflammatory markers (IL-1β and TNFα), apoptotic (caspase 3), and unfolded protein response (UPR) markers (XBP-1S and BiP), were also measured using real-time PCR. Activation of nuclear transcription factors Nrf-2 and NF-κB, associated with antioxidant and inflammation processes, respectively, were also analyzed by GSMA. Ultrafine PM increased HO-1 and SOD-2 mRNA levels in the striatum and hippocampus, in the presence of Nrf-2 activation. Also, ultrafine PM activated NF-κB and increased IL-1β and TNFα in the striatum. Activation of UPR was observed after exposure to coarse PM through the increment of XBP-1S and BiP in the striatum, accompanied by an increase in antioxidant response markers HO-1 and SOD-2. Our results indicate that exposure to different size fractions of PM may induce physiological changes (in a neuroanatomical manner) in the central nervous system (CNS), specifically within the striatum, where inflammation, oxidative stress and UPR signals were effectively activated.