TY - JOUR
T1 - Environmental Fe, Ti, Al, Cu, Hg, Bi, and Si nanoparticles in the atrioventricular conduction axis and the associated ultrastructural damage in young urbanites
T2 - Cardiac arrhythmias caused by anthropogenic, industrial, e-waste, and indoor nanoparticles
AU - Calderón-Garciduenas, Lilian
AU - González-Maciel, Angélica
AU - Reynoso-Robles, Rafael
AU - Rodríguez-López, José Luis
AU - Silva-Pereyra, Hector G.
AU - Labrada-Delgado, Gladis J.
AU - Pérez-Guillé, Beatriz
AU - Soriano-Rosales, Rosa Eugenia
AU - Luna, Miguel Angel Jiménez Bravo
AU - Brito-Aguilar, Rafael
AU - Mukherjee, Partha S.
AU - Gayosso-Chávez, Carlos
AU - Delgado-Chávez, Ricardo
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 American Chemical Society.
PY - 2021/6/15
Y1 - 2021/6/15
N2 - Air pollution exposure is a risk factor for arrhythmia. The atrioventricular (AV) conduction axis is key for the passage of electrical signals to ventricles. We investigated whether environmental nanoparticles (NPs) reach the AV axis and whether they are associated with ultrastructural cell damage. Here, we demonstrate the detection of the shape, size, and composition of NPs by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX) in 10 subjects from Metropolitan Mexico City (MMC) with a mean age of 25.3 ± 5.9 and a 71-year-old subject without cardiac pathology. We found that in every case, Fe, Ti, Al, Hg, Cu, Bi, and/or Si spherical or acicular NPs with a mean size of 36 ± 17 nm were present in the AV axis in situ, freely and as conglomerates, within the mitochondria, sarcomeres, lysosomes, lipofuscin, and/or intercalated disks and gap junctions of Purkinje and transitional cells, telocytes, macrophages, endothelium, and adjacent atrial and ventricular fibers. Erythrocytes were found to transfer NPs to the endothelium. Purkinje fibers with increased lysosomal activity and totally disordered myofilaments and fragmented Z-disks exhibited NP conglomerates in association with gap junctions and intercalated disks. AV conduction axis pathology caused by environmental NPs is a plausible and modifiable risk factor for understanding common arrhythmias and reentrant tachycardia. Anthropogenic, industrial, e-waste, and indoor NPs reach pacemaker regions, thereby increasing potential mechanisms that disrupt the electrical impulse pathways of the heart. The cardiotoxic, oxidative, and abnormal electric performance effects of NPs in pacemaker locations warrant extensive research. Cardiac arrhythmias associated with nanoparticle effects could be preventable.
AB - Air pollution exposure is a risk factor for arrhythmia. The atrioventricular (AV) conduction axis is key for the passage of electrical signals to ventricles. We investigated whether environmental nanoparticles (NPs) reach the AV axis and whether they are associated with ultrastructural cell damage. Here, we demonstrate the detection of the shape, size, and composition of NPs by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX) in 10 subjects from Metropolitan Mexico City (MMC) with a mean age of 25.3 ± 5.9 and a 71-year-old subject without cardiac pathology. We found that in every case, Fe, Ti, Al, Hg, Cu, Bi, and/or Si spherical or acicular NPs with a mean size of 36 ± 17 nm were present in the AV axis in situ, freely and as conglomerates, within the mitochondria, sarcomeres, lysosomes, lipofuscin, and/or intercalated disks and gap junctions of Purkinje and transitional cells, telocytes, macrophages, endothelium, and adjacent atrial and ventricular fibers. Erythrocytes were found to transfer NPs to the endothelium. Purkinje fibers with increased lysosomal activity and totally disordered myofilaments and fragmented Z-disks exhibited NP conglomerates in association with gap junctions and intercalated disks. AV conduction axis pathology caused by environmental NPs is a plausible and modifiable risk factor for understanding common arrhythmias and reentrant tachycardia. Anthropogenic, industrial, e-waste, and indoor NPs reach pacemaker regions, thereby increasing potential mechanisms that disrupt the electrical impulse pathways of the heart. The cardiotoxic, oxidative, and abnormal electric performance effects of NPs in pacemaker locations warrant extensive research. Cardiac arrhythmias associated with nanoparticle effects could be preventable.
KW - Air pollution
KW - Atrioventricular AV node
KW - Cardiac arrhythmias
KW - E-waste
KW - Glycocalyx
KW - Heart pacemakers
KW - Indoor pollution
KW - Metropolitan Mexico City
KW - Nanoparticles
KW - Reentry tachycardia AVNRT
KW - SARS-CoV-2
KW - Young urbanites
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85108303579&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/acs.est.1c01733
DO - 10.1021/acs.est.1c01733
M3 - Article
C2 - 34081443
AN - SCOPUS:85108303579
SN - 0013-936X
VL - 55
SP - 8203
EP - 8214
JO - Environmental Science and Technology
JF - Environmental Science and Technology
IS - 12
ER -