MINI REVIEW article
Front. Environ. Eng.
Sec. Air Pollution Management
Volume 4 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fenve.2025.1611782
Challenges in studying the toxicity of particulate air pollution on the respiratory system
Provisionally accepted
- 1Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
- 2Laboratory of Environmental and Experimental Pathology, LIM05, Hospital das Clínicas, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil., São Paulo, Brazil
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Air pollution, particularly particulate matter (PM) from vehicular emissions, poses significant risks to human health, with evidence linking it to respiratory and other systemic effects. This review provides a brief historical overview of air pollution to understand the evolution of pollution sources and their health effects. Key challenges in PM exposure assessment are explored, particularly the difficulty of accurately estimating exposure and inhaled dose. The review also addresses PM deposition in the lungs, its elimination, and its impact on both local and systemic health. The role of the lung microenvironment, specifically the extracellular matrix, is critical to understanding PM-induced tissue damage and its broader implications. Despite research advancements, uncertainties persist regarding PM toxicity mechanisms, its role in chronic diseases, and the development of reliable biomarkers. This review emphasizes the need for a multidisciplinary approach to address these health challenges, utilizing technological innovations to improve exposure assessment and better understand PM's toxicological effects. Global collaboration is essential to mitigate health risks and protect public health.
Keywords: Air Pollution, Exposure, Deposited particles, lung microenvironment, health effects
Received: 14 Apr 2025; Accepted: 02 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Takano, Closs, Fajersztajn and Veras. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Ana Paula Cremasco Takano, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Mariana Matera Veras, Laboratory of Environmental and Experimental Pathology, LIM05, Hospital das Clínicas, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil., São Paulo, Brazil
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.