Cellular Cytotoxicity and Oxidative Potential of Recurrent Molds of the Genus Series .

Molds are ubiquitous biological pollutants in bioaerosols. Among these molds, the genus is found in the majority of indoor air samples, and includes several species with pathogenic and toxigenic properties. species in the series remain little known despite recurrence in bioaerosols. In order to investigate their toxicity, we studied 22 isolates of clinical and environmental origin, corresponding to seven different species of the series . Spore suspensions and ethyl acetate extracts prepared from fungal isolates were subjected to oxidative potential measurement using the dithiothreitol (DTT) test and cell survival measurement. The DTT tests showed that all species of the series had an oxidative potential, either by their spores (especially for ) or by the extracts (especially from ). Measurements of cell survival of A549 and HaCaT cell lines showed that only the spore suspension containing 10 spores/mL of caused a significant decrease in survival after 72 h of exposure. The same tests performed with mixtures of 10 spores/mL showed a potentiation of the cytotoxic effect, with a significant decrease in cell survival for mixtures containing spores of two species (on A549 cells, = 0.05 and HaCaT cells, = 0.001) or three different species (on HaCaT cells, = 0.05). Cell survival assays after 72 h of exposure to the fungal extracts showed that extract was the most cytotoxic (IC50 < 25 µg/mL), while caused no significant decrease in cell survival.