Dataset Information

Inflammatory and oxidative stress responses of healthy young adults to changes in air quality during the Beijing Olympics.

ABSTRACT:

Rationale

Unprecedented pollution control actions during the Beijing Olympics provided a quasi-experimental opportunity to examine biologic responses to drastic changes in air pollution levels.

Objectives

To determine whether changes in levels of biomarkers reflecting pulmonary inflammation and pulmonary and systemic oxidative stress were associated with changes in air pollution levels in healthy young adults.

Methods

We measured fractional exhaled nitric oxide, a number of exhaled breath condensate markers (H(+), nitrite, nitrate, and 8-isoprostane), and urinary 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine in 125 participants twice in each of the pre- (high pollution), during- (low pollution), and post-Olympic (high pollution) periods. We measured concentrations of air pollutants near where the participants lived and worked. We used mixed-effects models to estimate changes in biomarker levels across the three periods and to examine whether changes in biomarker levels were associated with changes in pollutant concentrations, adjusting for meteorologic parameters.

Measurements and main results

From the pre- to the during-Olympic period, we observed significant and often large decreases (ranging from -4.5% to -72.5%) in levels of all the biomarkers. From the during-Olympic to the post-Olympic period, we observed significant and larger increases (48-360%) in levels of these same biomarkers. Moreover, increased pollutant concentrations were consistently associated with statistically significant increases in biomarker levels.

Conclusions

These findings support the important role of oxidative stress and that of pulmonary inflammation in mediating air pollution health effects. The findings demonstrate the utility of novel and noninvasive biomarkers in the general population consisting largely of healthy individuals.

SUBMITTER: Huang W

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3530204 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Inflammatory and oxidative stress responses of healthy young adults to changes in air quality during the Beijing Olympics.

Huang Wei W Wang Guangfa G Lu Shou-En SE Kipen Howard H Wang Yuedan Y Hu Min M Lin Weiwei W Rich David D Ohman-Strickland Pamela P Diehl Scott R SR Zhu Ping P Tong Jian J Gong Jicheng J Zhu Tong T Zhang Junfeng J

American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine 20120830 11

<h4>Rationale</h4>Unprecedented pollution control actions during the Beijing Olympics provided a quasi-experimental opportunity to examine biologic responses to drastic changes in air pollution levels.<h4>Objectives</h4>To determine whether changes in levels of biomarkers reflecting pulmonary inflammation and pulmonary and systemic oxidative stress were associated with changes in air pollution levels in healthy young adults.<h4>Methods</h4>We measured fractional exhaled nitric oxide, a number of ...[more]

PMID: 22936356

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Project description:BackgroundPrevious studies have reported decreased birth weight associated with increased air pollutant concentrations during pregnancy. However, it is not clear when during pregnancy increases in air pollution are associated with the largest differences in birth weight.ObjectivesUsing the natural experiment of air pollution declines during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, we evaluated whether having specific months of pregnancy (i.e., 1st…8th) during the 2008 Olympics period was associated with larger birth weights, compared with pregnancies during the same dates in 2007 or 2009.MethodsUsing n = 83,672 term births to mothers residing in four urban districts of Beijing, we estimated the difference in birth weight associated with having individual months of pregnancy during the 2008 Olympics (8 August-24 September 2008) compared with the same dates in 2007 and 2009. We also estimated the difference in birth weight associated with interquartile range (IQR) increases in mean ambient particulate matter ≤ 2.5 μm in aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations during each pregnancy month.ResultsBabies whose 8th month of gestation occurred during the 2008 Olympics were, on average, 23 g larger (95% CI: 5 g, 40 g) than babies whose 8th month occurred during the same calendar dates in 2007 or 2009. IQR increases in PM2.5 (19.8 μg/m3), CO (0.3 ppm), SO2 (1.8 ppb), and NO2 (13.6 ppb) concentrations during the 8th month of pregnancy were associated with 18 g (95% CI: -32 g, -3 g), 17 g (95% CI: -28 g, -6 g), 23 g (95% CI: -36 g, -10 g), and 34 g (95% CI: -70 g, 3 g) decreases in birth weight, respectively. We did not see significant associations for months 1-7.ConclusionsShort-term decreases in air pollution late in pregnancy in Beijing during the 2008 Summer Olympics, a normally heavily polluted city, were associated with higher birth weight.CitationRich DQ, Liu K, Zhang J, Thurston SW, Stevens TP, Pan Y, Kane C, Weinberger B, Ohman-Strickland P, Woodruff TJ, Duan X, Assibey-Mensah V, Zhang J. 2015. Differences in birth weight associated with the 2008 Beijing Olympics air pollution reduction: results from a natural experiment. Environ Health Perspect 123:880-887; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1408795.

Project description:BackgroundThe metabolome is a collection of exogenous chemicals and metabolites from cellular processes that may reflect the body's response to environmental exposures. Studies of air pollution and metabolomics are limited.ObjectivesTo explore changes in the human metabolome before, during, and after the 2008 Beijing Olympics Games, when air pollution was high, low, and high, respectively.MethodsSerum samples were collected before, during, and after the Olympics from 26 participants in an existing panel study. Gas and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry were used in metabolomics analysis. Repeated measures ANOVA, network analysis, and enrichment analysis methods were employed to identify metabolites and classes associated with air pollution changes.ResultsA total of 886 molecules were measured in our metabolomics analysis. Network partitioning identified four modules with 65 known metabolites that significantly changed across the three time points. All known molecules in the first module ([Formula: see text]) were lipids (e.g., eicosapentaenoic acid, stearic acid). The second module consisted primarily of dipeptides ([Formula: see text], e.g., isoleucylglycine) plus 8 metabolites from four other classes (e.g., hypoxanthine, 12-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid). Most of the metabolites in Modules 3 (19 of 23) and 4 (5 of 5) were unknown. Enrichment analysis of module-identified metabolites indicted significantly overrepresented pathways, including long- and medium-chain fatty acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids (n3 and n6), eicosanoids, lysolipid, dipeptides, fatty acid metabolism, and purine metabolism [(hypo) xanthine/inosine-containing pathways].ConclusionsWe identified two major metabolic signatures: one consisting of lipids, and a second that included dipeptides, polyunsaturated fatty acids, taurine, and xanthine. Metabolites in both groups decreased during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when air pollution was low, and increased after the Olympics, when air pollution returned to normal (high) levels. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP3705.

Dataset Information

Inflammatory and oxidative stress responses of healthy young adults to changes in air quality during the Beijing Olympics.

Rationale

Objectives

Methods

Measurements and main results

Conclusions

Publications

Inflammatory and oxidative stress responses of healthy young adults to changes in air quality during the Beijing Olympics.

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