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Particulate matter (PM) is considered an atmospheric pollutant that mostly affects human health. The finest fractions of PM (PM 2.5 or less) play a major role in causing chronic diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate the genotoxic effects of PM 0.5 collected in five Italian towns using different bioassays. The role of chemical composition on the genotoxicity induced was also evaluated. The present study was included in the multicentre MAPEC&#95;LIFE project, which aimed to evaluate the associations between air pollution exposure and early biological effects in Italian children. PM 10 samples were collected in 2 seasons (winter and spring) using a high-volume multistage cascade impactor. The results showed that PM 0.5 represents a very high proportion of PM 10 (range 10-63%). PM 0.5 organic extracts were chemically analysed (PAH s , nitro-PAH s ) and tested by the comet assay (A549 and BEAS-2B cells), MN test (A549 cells) and Ames test on Salmonella strains (TA100, TA98, TA98NR and YG1021). The highest concentrations of PAHs and nitro-PAHs in PM 0.5 were observed in the Torino, Brescia and Pisa samples in winter. The Ames test showed low mutagenic activity. The highest net revertants/m 3 were observed in the Torino and Brescia samples (winter), and the mutagenic effect was associated with PM 0.5 (p < 0.01), PAH and nitro-PAH (p < 0.05) concentrations. The YG1021 strain showed the highest sensitivity to PM 0.5 samples. No genotoxic effect of PM 0.5 extracts was observed using A549 cells except for some samples in winter (comet assay), while BEAS-2B cells showed light DNA damage in the Torino, Brescia and Pisa samples in winter, highlighting the higher sensitivity of BEAS-2B cells, which was consistent with the Ames test (p < 0.01). The results obtained showed that it is important to further investigate the finest fractions of PM, which represent a relevant percentage of PM 10 , taking into account the chemical composition and the biological effects induced., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

PM10 was sampled in a background urban site in Torino, a northern Italian city. PM10 extracts were tested with THP-1 and A-549 cells to evaluate their effects on cell proliferation, LDH activity, TNFα, IL8 and CYP1A1 expression, and genotoxic damage induction (Comet assay). Through Principal Component Analysis (PCA), it was observed that (1) the aqueous extracts induced the inhibition of cell proliferation in the warm season that clustered together to total ions, (2) organic extracts determined a winter cell viability reduction and (3) there was a genotoxic effect associated with PAH and metal concentrations. The analysed low PAH levels were unable to induce significant CYP1A1 expression. The results obtained confirmed that PM composition and seasonality play an important role in particle-induced toxicity. The presence of PM10-induced biological effects at a low polluted site suggested that a reduction of PM10 mass did not seem to be sufficient to reduce its toxicity., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)