Atmospheric fine particulate matters (PM_2.5) induce adverse human health effects through inhalation, and the harmful effects of PM_2.5 are determined not only by its air concentrations, but also by the particle components varied temporally. To investigate seasonal differences of the aerosol toxicity effects including cell viability and membrane damage, cell oxidative stress and responses of inflammatory cytokines, the human lung epithelial cells (A549) were exposed to PM_2.5 samples collected in both summer and winter by the in vitro toxicity bioassays. Toxicological results showed that, the PM_2.5 led to the cell viability decrease, cell membrane injury, oxidative stress level increase and inflammatory responses in a dose-dependent manner. Temporally, the cytotoxicity of winter PM_2.5 was higher than summer of this studied industrial area of Nanjing, China. According to the different contents of heavy metals accumulated in PM_2.5, the transition metals such as Cu might be an important contributor to the aerosol cell toxicity.

大气中的细颗粒物（PM _2.5）通过吸入会给人体健康带来不利影响，而PM _2.5的有害影响不仅取决于其空气浓度，还取决于随时间变化的颗粒成分。为了研究气溶胶毒性作用的季节差异，包括细胞活力和膜损伤，细胞氧化应激和炎症细胞因子的反应，将人肺上皮细胞（A549）暴露于夏季和冬季通过体外毒性收集的PM _2.5样品中生物测定。毒理学结果表明，PM _2.5导致细胞活力降低，细胞膜损伤，氧化应激水平升高和炎症反应呈剂量依赖性。在这个南京研究的工业区，冬季PM _2.5的细胞毒性暂时高于夏季。根据PM _2.5中积累的重金属含量的不同，过渡金属（例如Cu）可能是导致气溶胶细胞毒性的重要因素。