You are here:
Air Research Program: Key Pathways research track
Impact/Purpose:
Air MYP
Description:
The pathways research track applies animal, cellular, and human studies to discern whether there is a common molecular mechanism (e.g. production of oxidative stress, phosphatase inhibition, disruption of iron homeostasis) through which air pollutants induce toxicity of air pollution particles and other air pollutants. Research in this track also includes human volunteer studies to assess the efficacy of pharmacological and nutritional interventions in blunting adverse responses to pollutant inhalation. Understanding the mechanisms through which PM exposure activates signal transduction pathways related to adverse health effects will provide a potentially unifying mechanism for the adverse effects of PM of varying composition, provide biological plausibility in support of regulatory efforts aimed at mitigating the health effects of PM inhalation, and facilitate the use of mechanistic data in the development of computational approaches to toxicity testing.