Air pollution polyarmatic hydrocarbons and cardiovascular health

Abstract

Air pollution is the environmental risk factor responsible for a vast range of diseases and premature death worldwide (Lelieveld et al., 2019). Vehicle exhaust is one of the main components of air pollution that damage health. Both epidemiological and experimental studies notably suggest that exposure to combustion particles (particulate matter, PM) exacerbate cardiovascular disease (CVD) (Brook et al., 2010). Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are generated primarily during incomplete combustion of organic materials and can occur both in gas-phase and as a sorbet to PM in the aerosols (Lima et al., 2005). Attention is on volatile PAHs and, more importantly, on PHAs bound to the surface of PM. Particularly PM2.5 and ultrafine fraction of the airborne particulates (Mohanraj et al., 2012). Earlier and still, studies have focused on the adverse effects of the larger molecular weight PAHs (e.g. benzo[a]pyrene) that may be misleading our attention to the adverse impact of lower molecular weight PAHs (e.g. phenanthrene). Recently, accumulative evidence has provided an insight view that phenanthrene elucidates direct negative actions on the contractile and electrical activity of the heart (Franklin et al., 2015). In addition, the detrimental effects of phenanthrene on cardiac dysfunction may be attributed to alterations in immune function and the generation of reactive oxygen species (Tofler and Muller, 2006; Burritt, 2008; Miller, 2014).