Water Soluble and Insoluble Components of PM2.5 in Nanchang City and Their Cytotoxic Research on Epithelial Cells (A549)

Abstract To investigate the toxic effects of PM2.5 on human lung epithelial cells A549 and the potential mechanism of action, this research intends to prepare water-soluble (WS-PM2.5) and insoluble components (WIS-PM2.5) of PM2.5 by collecting atmospheric fine particles. The samples of atmospheric PM2.5 at the Qianhu Campus of Nanchang University in Nanchang city were collected on this subject. The desiccated PM2.5 was prepared into water-soluble and insoluble components, The cell toxicity of WS-PM2.5 and WIS-PM2.5 was assessed by the MTT method measuring the cell survival rate. According to the results of the MTT test, the exposure time was selected 24 h for all subsequent tests. The lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and intracellular superoxide dismutase (SOD) in the cell supernatant fluid were measured by the trace enzyme method. Cell reactive oxygen species (ROS) were measured by flow cytometry, and the expression of cell inflammatory factors IL-6 and TNF-α were measured by ELISA and RT-QPCR. The results showed that WS-PM2.5 and WIS-PM2.5 can inhibit the activity of A549 cells, destroy the integrity of cell membranes, promote oxidative stress in cells, and induce inflammatory reactions in cells, thereby producing toxic effects on A549 cells. However, their toxic mechanism is different, and the toxicity of the cells is significantly different. The toxic effect of WIS-PM2.5 is significantly stronger than that of WS-PM2.5 in inhibiting cell viability, cell membrane damage, and oxidative stress, while significantly lower than that of WS-PM2.5 in causing inflammatory damage.