Atmospheric Aging Alters the Toxicity Mechanisms of Residential Wood Combustion Aerosol: A Parallel <i>In Vivo</i> and <i>In Vitro</i> Study
Residential wood combustion (RWC) contributes significantly to urban air pollution; however, the influence of atmospheric aging on adverse health effects of RWC emissions remains uncertain. We exposed C57BL/6J mice in parallel with different in vitro models of first-line of defense cells (macrophages: RAW264.7 and lung epithelial cells: A549) at the air–liquid interface to either fresh or aged RWC emissions generated from an oxidation flow reactor. Both in vivo and in vitro cellular and molecular outcomes show that photochemically aged emissions play a key role in triggering lung inflammation and the polarization of macrophages into an M2 phenotype, bridging the gap between epidemiology and toxicology on inflammatory lung responses. Furthermore, evidence of protumorigenic activity in lung epithelial cells is detected after exposure to both emissions, but more pronounced after exposure to aged RWC emissions. This study highlights the importance of considering atmospheric aging in the assessment of air-pollution-related health effects.
Authors
- Bernhard Michalke (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6376-2588)
- Thorsten Streibel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0221-2125)
- Jora Jokiniemi
- Johannes Passig (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3876-1716)
- Carsten Weiß (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5380-3208)
- Jarkko Tissari (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3227-1975)
- Kati Huttunen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4888-9203)
- S. Mülhopt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3951-0131)
- Henri Hakkarainen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8461-4565)
- Svenja Offer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-1159-4769)
- Tuukka Ihantola (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4182-2011)
- Marco Dilger (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9038-3863)
- Heikki Lamberg (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3432-3241)
- Kari Kuuspalo
- Jürgen Schnelle‐Kreis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4846-2303)
- J. Buters
- Miika Kortelainen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1051-4617)
- Martin Sklorz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8043-0024)
- Joana Candeias (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6239-6157)
- Martin Irmler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3169-479X)
- Mika Ihalainen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1834-7558)
- Maria‐Viola Martikainen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9541-5871)
- Hendryk Czech (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8377-4252)
- Christoph Schlager
- Jürgen Orasche (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1037-7544)
- Sebastiano Di Bucchianico (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6396-892X)
- Sebastian Oeder (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-1737-0072)
- Tamara Kanashova
- Mikko S. Happo
- Anni Hartikainen
- R. Zimmermann
- Ari Leskinen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4308-4534)
- Maija-Riitta Hirvonen
- Gert Jakobi
- Pasi Yli-Pirilä (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7882-4574)
- Teemu Rönkkö
- Heikki Suhonen
- Gunnar Dittmar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3647-8623)
- Johannes Beckers
- Olli Sippula (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6981-2694)
- Oskari Uski
- Pasi Jalava
Institutions
- Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (DE)
- Finnish Meteorological Institute (FI)
- University of Eastern Finland (FI)
- Max Delbrück Center (DE)
- Savonia University of Applied Sciences (FI)
- Helmholtz Zentrum München (DE)
- Institute of Technical Chemistry (RU)
- Lightmatter (United States) (US)
- Luxembourg Institute of Health (LU)
- ENT and Allergy (US)
- Finland University (FI)
- Systems Biology Institute (JP)
- Institut des Sciences Analytiques (FR)
- Ramboll (Finland) (FI)
- Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Analytical Chemistry (CZ)
- German Center for Diabetes Research (DE)
- Comprehensive Clinical Research (US)
- University of Rostock (DE)
- Technical University of Munich (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Environmental Science & Technology
- Published
- 2026-05-29
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6c02543
- Primary Topic
- Air Quality and Health Impacts
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Academy of Finland
- Helmholtz Association