Adverse pulmonary impacts of environmental concentrations of oil mist particulate matter in normal human bronchial epithelial cell

Abstract Airborne oil mist particulate matter (OMPM) is generated during industrial processes such as metalworking and may be associated with pulmonary dysfunction. In this study, we employed the normal human bronchial epithelial BEAS-2B cell line to elucidate the association between pulmonary toxicity and OMPM of 2.5–10 μm, 1.0–2.5 μm and 38% of control), except for low-dose OMPM1.0 (1 μg/cm2). OMPM10–2.5 and OMPM2.5–1.0, but not OMPM1.0, induced oxidative stress (1.5–4-fold increase compared with the control) and increased the production of proinflammatory cytokines (1.5–3-fold). However, only OMPM1.0 induced pulmonary epithelial barrier dysfunction via depletion of zonula occludens (0.65–0.8-fold) and α1-antitrypsin proteins (0.65–0.8-fold). In conclusion, a higher risk of lung disease was associated with smaller particle size OMPM. Exposure to OMPM1.0 may be a potential risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The evidence also demonstrates that occupational exposure to OMPM may cause pulmonary disease at very low concentrations.