Cytotoxic and genotoxic effects of Benzo[ghi]perylene on the human bronchial cell line NL-20

Benzo[ghi]perylene is the most abundant polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon in the atmosphere of highly polluted cities with high altitudes like Mexico City. We evaluated the in vitro cytotoxic and genotoxic effects that Benzo [ghi]perylene could induce to the bronchial cell line NL-20 after 3 h of exposure. Furthermore, exposed cells were washed and maintained for 24 h without the treatment (recovery time), in order to evaluate a persistent damage to the cells. We found that at 3 h of exposure, 20% and 47% of the cells displayed cytoplasmic vesicles (p < 0.05) and gamma H2AX foci in the nuclei (p < 0.05), respectively. Furthermore, 27% of cells showed translocation of the factor inductor apoptosis into the nuclei (p < 0.05) and an increase of proliferating cells was also observed (21%, p < 0.05). The cells after recovery time continued displaying morphological changes and gamma H2AX foci, despite of the increased expression (> 2-times fold change) of some DNA repair genes (p < 0.05) found before the recovery time. We also found that the cell nuclei contained Benzo[ghi]perylene after the exposure and it remains there after the recovery time (p < 0.01). Therefore, hereby we report the cytotoxic and genotoxic effects that Benzo[ghi]perylene is capable to induce to NL-20 cells.