Gah. Heussen et Gm. Alink, INHIBITION OF GAP-JUNCTIONAL INTERCELLULAR COMMUNICATION BY OUTDOOR AND INDOOR AIRBORNE PARTICULATE MATTER, Toxicology letters, 72(1-3), 1994, pp. 87-94
The inhibition of gap-junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) by
different airborne particulate matter (APM) extracts was tested in V7
9 cells and in primary cultures of alveolar type II cells. The results
show that extracts of APM were able to inhibit GJIC in V79 and in alv
eolar type II cells at non-cytotoxic doses. Chemical fractionation of
extracts showed that the neutral fractions accounted for most of the i
nhibitory activity on GJIC. The activities of basic and acid fractions
was less than 5% of the total activity. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarb
ons and nitrated derivatives are unlikely to be responsible for the ac
tivity of the neutral fractions, because several representatives of th
ese compounds failed to inhibit GJIC. Taken together, these results su
ggest that extracts of APM, in addition to the genotoxic activity that
has been known for many years, also have a tumor promoting activity.