Ricerc@Sapienza

Air pollution is recognized as the world's largest environmental health risk. In this work we evaluated in vivo the effects of three relevant components of atmospheric dusts (brake dust, wood pellet ash and Saharan dust) employing the animal model Caenorhabditis elegans. Main endpoints of C. elegans such as life span, brood size and oxidative stress were addressed by exposing the nematodes to different dust concentrations. Brake dust and pellet ash affected the life span and increased significantly the oxidative stress of exposed nematodes, while Saharan dust showed no effects.

Particulate matter (PM) pollution is a serious global problem especially in urban and industrialized areas (Xu et al., 2019), threatening both human health and vegetation. Urban and peri-urban forests as well as street trees are natural receptors of PM and they have been widely applied as a passive sampler for monitoring air quality (Kardel et al., 2018). However, PM can affect functionality of vegetation by impairing its capacity to provide regulating ecosystem services. This work aims to evaluate the oxidative potential of PM on Quercus ilex L.