School of Public Health, Key Lab of Public Health Safety of the Ministry of Education and NHC Key Laboratory of Health Technology Assessment, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
School of Public Health, Key Lab of Public Health Safety of the Ministry of Education and NHC Key Laboratory of Health Technology Assessment, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Meteorology and Health, Shanghai 200030, China.
Environ Int. 2018 Oct;119:186-192. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2018.06.027. Epub 2018 Jun 27.
Fine particulate matter (PM) has recently been associated with the activation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, increasing cardiometabolic risks. However, it is unknown which constituents of PM were mainly responsible for these associations. In a longitudinal panel study with 4 repeated measurements among 43 college students in Shanghai, China, we measured serum levels of corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH), adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and cortisol, as indicators of HPA axis activation. Then, we evaluated the associations of 22 constituents of PM with these stress hormones using linear mixed-effect models. During the study period, the average daily concentration of PM was 41.1 μg/m. We found that short-term exposure to PM was associated with elevated levels of the 3 stress hormones. We observed that water-soluble inorganic ions, especially nitrate (NO) and ammonium, had stronger influences on 3 hormones. Six metallic elements, including Zn, Mn, Cu, Fe, Br, and Cr, had positive but generally instable associations with 3 hormones. The effects of organic carbon and elemental carbon on hormones were generally weak. When correcting for multiple comparisons using false discovery rate, NO was still significantly associated with CRH, but other important associations turned to be insignificant. An interquartile range increase in NO on the previous day were associated with 12.13% increase (95% confidence interval: 4.45%, 20.37%) in CRH. Our findings suggested that water-soluble inorganic constituents of PM (especially, NO) might have stronger influences on the activation of HPA axis than carbonaceous and elemental components.
细颗粒物（PM）最近与下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺（HPA）轴的激活有关，增加了心血管代谢风险。然而，目前尚不清楚 PM 的哪些成分主要负责这些关联。在中国上海的 43 名大学生中进行了一项纵向面板研究，其中包括 4 次重复测量，我们测量了促肾上腺皮质激素释放激素（CRH）、促肾上腺皮质激素（ACTH）和皮质醇的血清水平，作为 HPA 轴激活的指标。然后，我们使用线性混合效应模型评估了 PM 的 22 种成分与这些应激激素的关联。在研究期间，PM 的平均日浓度为 41.1μg/m。我们发现，短期暴露于 PM 与 3 种应激激素水平升高有关。我们观察到，水溶性无机离子，特别是硝酸盐（NO）和铵，对 3 种激素的影响更强。6 种金属元素，包括 Zn、Mn、Cu、Fe、Br 和 Cr，与 3 种激素呈正相关，但通常不稳定。有机碳和元素碳对激素的影响通常较弱。当使用错误发现率校正多重比较时，NO 仍与 CRH 显著相关，但其他重要的关联变得不显著。前一天 NO 的四分位间距增加与 CRH 增加 12.13%（95%置信区间：4.45%，20.37%）相关。我们的研究结果表明，PM 的水溶性无机成分（特别是 NO）可能对 HPA 轴的激活有更强的影响，而碳质和元素成分的影响较弱。
