Journal article
Effects of Coal Fly Ash Particulate Matter on the Antimicrobial Activity of Airway Surface Liquid
Environmental health perspectives, Vol.125(7), pp.077003-077003
07/05/2017
DOI: 10.1289/EHP876
PMCID: PMC5744695
PMID: 28696208
Abstract
Sustained exposure to ambient particulate matter (PM) is a global cause of mortality. Coal fly ash (CFA) is a byproduct of coal combustion and is a source of anthropogenic PM with worldwide health relevance. The airway epithelia are lined with fluid called airway surface liquid (ASL), which contains antimicrobial proteins and peptides (AMPs). Cationic AMPs bind negatively charged bacteria to exert their antimicrobial activity. PM arriving in the airways could potentially interact with AMPs in the ASL to affect their antimicrobial activity.
We hypothesized that PM can interact with ASL AMPs to impair their antimicrobial activity.
We exposed pig and human airway explants, pig and human ASL, and the human cationic AMPs β-defensin-3, LL-37, and lysozyme to CFA or control. Thereafter, we assessed the antimicrobial activity of exposed airway samples using both bioluminescence and standard colony-forming unit assays. We investigated PM-AMP electrostatic interaction by attenuated total reflection Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and measuring the zeta potential. We also studied the adsorption of AMPs on PM.
We found increased bacterial survival in CFA-exposed airway explants, ASL, and AMPs. In addition, we report that PM with a negative surface charge can adsorb cationic AMPs and form negative particle-protein complexes.
We propose that when CFA arrives at the airway, it rapidly adsorbs AMPs and creates negative complexes, thereby decreasing the functional amount of AMPs capable of killing pathogens. These results provide a novel translational insight into an early mechanism for how ambient PM increases the susceptibility of the airways to bacterial infection. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP876.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Effects of Coal Fly Ash Particulate Matter on the Antimicrobial Activity of Airway Surface Liquid
- Creators
- Luis G Vargas Buonfiglio - Department of Internal Medicine, Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of MedicineImali A Mudunkotuwa - Department of Chemistry, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, andMahmoud H Abou Alaiwa - Department of Internal Medicine, Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of MedicineOriana G Vanegas Calderón - Department of Pediatrics, Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USAJennifer A Borcherding - Department of Internal Medicine, Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of MedicineAlicia K Gerke - Department of Internal Medicine, Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of MedicineJoseph Zabner - Department of Internal Medicine, Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of MedicineVicki H Grassian - Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USAAlejandro P Comellas - Department of Internal Medicine, Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Environmental health perspectives, Vol.125(7), pp.077003-077003
- DOI
- 10.1289/EHP876
- PMID
- 28696208
- PMCID
- PMC5744695
- ISSN
- 0091-6765
- eISSN
- 1552-9924
- Grant note
- P30 ES005605 / NIEHS NIH HHS P30 DK054759 / NIDDK NIH HHS P01 HL091842 / NHLBI NIH HHS
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 07/05/2017
- Academic Unit
- Roy J. Carver Department of Biomedical Engineering; Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Occupational Medicine; ICTS; Chemistry; Chemical and Biochemical Engineering; Internal Medicine
- Record Identifier
- 9984094508202771
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