Ambient particulate air pollution and circulating antioxidant enzymes: A repeated-measure study in healthy adults in Beijing, China

The association of systemic antioxidant activity with ambient air pollution has been unclear. A panel of 40 healthy college students underwent repeated blood collection for 12 occasions under three exposure scenarios before and after relocating from a suburban area to an urban area in Beijing, China in 2010–2011. We measured various air pollutants including fine particles (PM2.5) and determined circulating levels of antioxidant enzymes extracellular superoxide dismutase (EC-SOD) and glutathione peroxidase 1 (GPX1) in the laboratory. An interquartile range increase of 63.4 μg/m3 at 3-d PM2.5 moving average was associated with a 6.3% (95% CI: 0.6, 12.4) increase in EC-SOD and a 5.5% (95% CI: 1.3, 9.8) increase in GPX1. Several PM2.5 chemical constituents, including negative ions (nitrate and chloride) and metals (e.g., iron and strontium), were consistently associated with increases in EC-SOD and GPX1. Our results support activation of circulating antioxidant enzymes following exposure to particulate air pollution.