Title: Air Pollution Alters Caenorhabditis elegans Development and Lifespan: Responses to Traffic-Related Nanoparticulate Matter.

Authors: Haghani, Amin; Dalton, Hans M; Safi, Nikoo; Shirmohammadi, Farimah; Sioutas, Constantinos; Morgan, Todd E; Finch, Caleb E; Curran, Sean P

Published In J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci, (2019 Jul 12)

Abstract: Air pollution is a heterogeneous environmental toxicant that impacts humans throughout their life. We introduce Caenorhabditis elegans as a valuable air pollution model with its short lifespan, medium-throughput capabilities, and highly conserved biological pathways that impact healthspan. We exposed developmental and adult life stages of C. elegans to airborne nano-sized particulate matter (nPM) produced by traffic emissions and measured biological and molecular endpoints that changed in response. Acute nPM did not cause lethality in C. elegans, but short-term exposure during larval stage 1 caused delayed development. Gene expression responses to nPM exposure overlapped with responses of mouse and cell culture models of nPM exposure in previous studies. We showed further that the skn-1/Nrf2 antioxidant response has a role in the development and hormetic effects of nPM. This study introduces the worm as a new resource and complementary model for mouse and cultured cell systems to study air pollution toxicity across the lifespan.

PubMed ID: 30828708

MeSH Terms: No MeSH terms associated with this publication