Respiratory Health Effects of Exposure to Ambient Particulate Matter and Bioaerosols.

Respiratory Health Effects of Exposure to Ambient Particulate Matter and Bioaerosols. Compr Physiol. 2019 Dec 18;10(1):1-20 Authors: Mack SM, Madl AK, Pinkerton KE Abstract Researchers have been studying the respiratory health effects of ambient air pollution for more than 70 years. While air pollution as a whole can include gaseous, solid, and liquid constituents, this article focuses only on the solid and liquid fractions, termed particulate matter (PM). Although PM may contain anthropogenic, geogenic, and/or biogenic fractions, in this article, particles that originate from microbial, fungal, animal, or plant sources are distinguished from PM as bioaerosols. Many advances have been made toward understanding which particle and exposure characteristics most influence deposition and clearance processes in the respiratory tract. These characteristics include particle size, shape, charge, and composition as well as the exposure concentration and dose rate. Exposure to particles has been directly associated with the exacerbation and, under certain circumstances, onset of respiratory disease. The circumstances of exposure leading to disease are dependent on stressors such as human activity level and changing particle composition in the environment. Historically, researchers assumed that bioaerosols were too large to be inhaled into the deep lung, and thus, not applicable for study in conjunction with PM2.5 (the 2.5-μm and below size fra...
Source: Comprehensive Physiology - Category: Physiology Tags: Compr Physiol Source Type: research