Mechanism of lungs infections through air-pollutants induced oxidative stress

Camelia Bhattacharyya, Amity University Kolkata

Relation between air pollution and the lungs:

Air pollution, a common enemy we all preach against without taking an action. Other than causing drastic changes in the environment, it also causes problems in the respiratory system of the body and thus affects the lungs. It might at times result in autoimmune diseases (ADs) through oxidative stress, systemic inflammation, and deterioration in the immune responses of the lungs. It might trigger a change through just leading to the regulation of the Th17 and Treg cells after binding to the Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) which might further influence the T, B cells and hence proinflammatory cytokines would be produced which would then result in causing chaos in the defense system of the body. 

The particulate matter (PM), present in the air can also result in a redox imbalance thus resulting in excess reactive oxygen species (ROS) like superoxide, nitric oxide, etc. This again shows how oxidative stress can be induced by the PM which further damages the lungs. The oxidative stress then results in pulmonary inflammation or in some cases even lung cancer. The infection rate on the PM depends greatly on its size since it may get inside endogenously or exogenously into the respiratory system and cause different levels of oxidative stress due to its physical as well as chemical properties. Oxidative stress might also hamper the production of certain genes and proteins in the nuclear extracts of the lung cells by activating the inhibitory kappa B (IkappaB). 

Pollutants and the level of GSH: 

The pollutants might also result in an imbalance in the cycles related to the production of natural antioxidants like GSH (the most important antioxidant) in the body, thus interfering with the enzymes and their roles. This might also change certain ratios among the molecular concentrations inside the body; for example, several times these PM result in excess ROS and lower reduced glutathione (GSH) which decreases the ratio of the reduced to the oxidized glutathione (GSH:GSSG) in the body which further leads to other diseases. The reason for taking the example of the GSH is because its concentration in the lungs is more than its concentration in other parts of the body, thus making it one of the important molecules and a significant one in maintaining proper conditions inside the lungs. 

Children and women are at higher risk: 

With modernization came several unwanted changes. Now there is a decrease in the number of trees and an increase in factories releasing harmful chemicals into the air and laboratories without proper disposal system for deleting the effects of the waste products on the environment. These have not only resulted in less immunized adults but more sick children as children and the aged ones are more prone towards attracting diseases or any kind of infections, may it be a living pathogen or a pollutant. Thus, the pollutants in this way are questioning the future generation since it can now be well predicted that the next generation will be a bunch of unhealthy unhappy people depending completely on the medical facilities since the defense system of their bodies will be non-functional.   

Not only the children but even women are at higher risk of acquiring lung diseases due to air pollutants since the sex-specific miRNA can regulate the expression of the inflammatory gene thus resulting in a bit different in the immune response of the body where the male body can fight back more than the female body.

A lesson to learn to coexist to lead a normal life:

All these might not help us create something or maybe invent or discover something to stop it, because we know that anything that is made to affect the living world can lose its effect through mutations in the living organisms. Thus, the best way to deal with the present scenario is to be a bit more sensitive towards the environment; to look into our needs while causing less damage to the natural systems since evolution has brought us where we are and it has already been decided through natural selection that which of the things are supported while which are not. So, it is high time to coexist with all the other components of the ecosystem, living or dead, and to help in the maintenance of a proper balance in them.

Also read: CAN SARS-CoV-2 BE A MAJOR CAUSE OF GLOBAL-ADAPTIVE EVOLUTION?

Reference:

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