As significantly more of the world’s populations find themselves in or near large cities there is a growing concern regarding the impact of air pollutants on the biology of the skin.  As the skin forms the outer protective barrier of our bodies, it has immediate and prolonged contact with the environment and is thus constantly exposed to air pollution.  Evidence is beginning to accumulate showing that this constant exposure to the components of air pollution, such as fine particulate matter, dangerous hydrocarbons, heavy metals, ozone and other noxious gasses can accelerate the signs of aging in the skin and have a negative impact on skin physiology.   As the evidence for these negative effects accumulates there is now a driven interest to screen materials for their ability to prevent the adverse effects of air pollution exposure.​Our laboratory testing services can expose cultured human cells or 3D tissue models to various air pollutions stressors and then measure various types of air pollution damage.

Air Pollution Stressors

• Urban Dust (mixture of particulate matter, heavy metals and hydrocarbons)
• Cigarette smoke
• Benzo[a]pyrene (found in coal tar or tobacco smoke)
• Ozone (O3)

Air Pollution Study End Points

• Intracellular ROS formation
• Lipid peroxidation
• Protein carbonylation
• Inflammatory cytokine release
• Viability