Dataset Information

Air pollution likely reduces hemoglobin levels in urban fruit bats.

ABSTRACT: Air pollution is one of the world's most substantial environmental problems. Air pollution is more severe in urban environments. Besides humans, other animals also inhabit cities. Despite the significant impact of air pollution on health, there is limited research on its effects on wildlife in general and specifically on bats, which are common in cities. Egyptian fruit bats dwell in both rural and urban environments. We assessed the exposure to particulate matter (PM)2.5 pollution and compared it to blood hemoglobin (HGB) levels in fruit bat populations roosting at different degrees of urbanization. We found a significant negative correlation between PM2.5 exposure and HGB levels. Bats that roost and forage in highly urban-polluted areas exhibited low HGB levels. This is a first attempt to examine the effect of urbanization-related pollution on bat health, revealing a negative correlation between air pollution and HGB levels that might detrimentally affect bats' health in the long run.

SUBMITTER: Gal O

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11930367 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Air pollution likely reduces hemoglobin levels in urban fruit bats.

Gal Omri O Eitan Ofri O Rachum Adi A Weinberg Maya M Zigdon Dean D Assa Reut R Price Colin C Yovel Yossi Y

iScience 20250217 3

Air pollution is one of the world's most substantial environmental problems. Air pollution is more severe in urban environments. Besides humans, other animals also inhabit cities. Despite the significant impact of air pollution on health, there is limited research on its effects on wildlife in general and specifically on bats, which are common in cities. Egyptian fruit bats dwell in both rural and urban environments. We assessed the exposure to particulate matter (PM)2.5 pollution and compared i ...[more]

PMID: 40124482

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Project description:In the present study, we investigate pulmonary transcriptional responses in mice following exposure in situ to ambient air in a heavily polluted urban environment. Mature C57BL/CBA male mice were caged in sheds located in an urban area near two working steel mills and a major highway in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Control mice were housed in the same environment but received only high-efficiency particle-filtered air. Whole lung tissues were collected from mice exposed for 3 weeks, 10 weeks or for 10 weeks followed by 6 weeks in the laboratory (16 weeks total). DNA microarrays were used to explore changes in pulmonary gene expression in mice breathing ambient air versus HEPA-filtered air. Transcriptional profiling revealed changes in the expression of genes implicated in the lipid droplet synthesis pathway (plin, dgat2, lpl, s3-12, agpat2), antioxidants (ucp1). We postulate that exposure to particulate matter adsorbed with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons triggers lipid droplet synthesis (holding depots for lipids and malformed/excess proteins tagged for degradation) in the lungs, which act to sequester particulates adsorbed with toxic chemicals. Increased lipid droplet synthesis could potentially lead to endogenous/stressor-induced synthesis of reactive oxygen species and activation of antioxidant mechanisms. Further investigation into the stimulation of lipid droplet synthesis in the lung in response to air pollution is warranted in order to better understand these mechanistic changes and the resulting health implications. Mature male C57BL/6 x CBA F1 hybrid mice were exposed to either HEPA-filtered or ambient air in Hamilton, ON, Canada. Animals were exposed starting May 14, 2004 for 3 weeks (3wk), 10 weeks (10wk), or for 10 weeks followed by 6 weeks of recovery (16wk). Each treatment group consisted of five mice, for a total of 30 mice. Total RNA was isolated from a random section of the whole lung using TRIzol reagent (Invitrogen) and purified using the RNeasy Mini Kit (Qiagen). RNA quality was confirmed by UV spectrophotometry and using an Agilent Bioanalyzer. Total RNA (200 ng) from HEPA-filtered air or whole air-exposed mice and Universal Mouse Reference RNA (Stratagene) were used to synthesize double-stranded cDNA and cyanine-labelled cRNA according to the manufacturer's instructions (Agilent Linear Amplification Kits, Agilent Technologies). Biological samples were labelled with Cy5 dye while the commercially available Stratagene mouse reference RNA was labelled with Cy3 dye. At each of the three time points, ambient air-exposed samples and HEPA-filtered samples were hybridized to Agilent microarrays. Arrays were washed, and scanned on an Agilent G2505B scanner. Data were acquired using the Agilent Feature Extraction software version 9.5.3.1.

Dataset Information

Air pollution likely reduces hemoglobin levels in urban fruit bats.

Publications

Air pollution likely reduces hemoglobin levels in urban fruit bats.

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