Potential of In Vitro Methods for Mechanistic Studies of Particulate Matter-Induced Cardiopulmonary Toxicity

Exposure to manmade particulate matter (PM) increased in the last century due to the enormous increase of human activities, but has since decreased due to political measures. PM exposure is not only linked with increased risks of lung cancer and respiratory diseases, but more and more information becomes available about PM at present exposure levels as a cause of cardiopulmonary diseases. The mechanisms linking PM with the increased risk of cardiopulmonary disease are not fully understood. PM-mediated cardiac effects may involve pulmonary or systematic inflammatory responses including procoagulatory states and promotion of atherosclerotic lesions, in addition to alterations of the autonomous nervous system, ischemic responses in the myocardium, or altered ion channel functions in myocardial cells. Present knowledge on involved cellular mechanisms is still limited. The author reviews relevant in vitro models to study and elucidate these mechanisms in more detail.