EARLY BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS (CYTOME ASSAY) IN CHILDREN EXPOSED TO DIFFERENT LEVELS OF PM0.5 IN FIVE ITALIAN CITIES DURING WINTER 2014-2015: MAPEC (MONITORING AIR POLLUTION EFFECTS ON CHILDREN FOR SUPPORTING PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY) STUDY

Epidemiological studies have shown that air pollution can cause harmful health effects. In particular, it was found a consistent association between exposure to particulate matter (PM) and incidence and mortality for several chronic diseases. The International Agency for Research on Cancer of WHO has ranked air pollution among the human carcinogens, and genotoxic damage was indicated as the main mechanism responsible for the adverse effects. The children are more vulnerable than adults to the effects of airborne agents for several reasons. The MAPEC (Monitoring Air Pollution Effects on Children for supporting public health policy) study aims to identify the biological damage markers in buccal cells, such as the presence of micronuclei, which are predictive of the onset of chronic diseases in adulthood. The micronucleus cytome assay was performed in exfoliated buccal mucosa (BM) cells of about 1,000 children (6-8 years-old) from five Italian towns (Brescia, Torino, Pisa, Perugia and Lecce) characterized by different concentrations of air pollutants. The BM cells were collected using a small-headed toothbrush, were fixed on microscope slides and stained with Feulgen/LightGreen for both bright field and fluorescence microscopic analysis. The biomarkers of genome damage (i.e. micronuclei and nuclear buds) were evaluated only in normal differentiated cells. The results from microscope analysis of cells sampled on winter 2014-2015 suggest a significant reduction of micronuclei frequency from Northern to Southern Italy, except for Torino. The frequency of micronuclei is proportional to the annual average concentration of PM in the air.