Cardiovascular Diseases Induced by Air Pollution
Cristina Roxana POPA1, Reka BALINT1, Aurora MOCANU1,
Maria TOMOAIA-COTISEL1,2*
1 Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca,
Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Research Centre of Physical
Chemistry, 11 Arany Janos
Str., RO-400028, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
2 Academy of Romanian Scientists, Splaiul Independentei Nr. 54,
Sector 5, 050094 Bucuresti, Romania
* Corresponding author e-mail: mcotisel@gmail.com,
mcotisel.chem.ubbcluj.ro@gmail.com
Abstract
Air pollution is a major global issue
associated with human health and represents severe threats for public health.
The sources of air pollution include particulate matter, PM2.5 defined by size
range < 2.5 μm,
and nanoparticles, NPs with size < 100 nm. This review focuses on cardiovascular diseases induced by air
pollution as demonstrated by epidemiological and toxicological studies. A
strong association is demonstrated between increases in airborne PM2.5 and NPs concentrations
and premature mortality, cardiopulmonary diseases, asthma, and lung cancer. The
mechanisms (direct and indirect) of toxicological effects induced by PM2.5
and NPs are related to their size, chemical compositions, lung clearance and
retention, cellular oxidative stress responses and pro-inflammatory effects
locally and systemically. Furthermore, the development of nanotechnology brings
increasing production of nanomaterials and engineered nanoparticles and raises
concerns on human exposure and health effects.
Keywords: Air pollution,
particulate matters, nanoparticles, systemic effects, cardiovascular diseases
DOI https://doi.org/10.56082/annalsarscibio.2020.2.133
