Pathological changes of nasal mucosal epithelium induced by long-term exposure to air pollutant PM10 9061

Abstract Description Objective The aim of this study was to investigate pathological changes of nasal mucosal epithelium induced by long-term exposure to air pollutant PM10. Methods Primary nasal epithelial cells were cultured using an air-liquid interface model and subjected to either mock stimulation or PM10 for 21 days to achieve full differentiation for downstream experiments. Single-cell RNA sequencing was performed using the 10X Genomics platform. The wound healing ability of basal cells was evaluated through scratch assays, trans-well migration assays, and flow cytometry. Results Single-cell RNA sequencing analysis was conducted on three control and three PM10-stimulated groups. A total of eight cell types were identified through typical marker gene clustering. Trajectory analysis revealed that the differentiation process from basal cells to ciliated cells was inhibited in the PM10-stimulated group, although the composition ratio of each cell type did not differ significantly from the control group. Notably, CYP1A1-positive cells accounted for 22.5% of basal cells and exhibited high expression of several inflammatory factors, including IL1A, IL1B, and TSLP, compared to other cell types. PM10 exposure impaired the wound healing ability of basal cells by down regulating the expression of SOX2. Conclusions PM10 exposure delay the differentiation of nasal mucosal epithelial cells, impair the wound healing ability and led to high inflammatory state of basal cell. Funding Sources This study was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China 2022YFE0131200 and 2023YFC2507900 (Z.L.), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) grants 82322018, 82471146, and 82101198 (Y.Y.), 81920108011 and 82130030 (Z.L.), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities 5003540127 (Y.Y.). Topic Categories Mucosal and Regional Immunology (MUC)