It is well accepted that diesel exhaust particles (DEPs) are highly associated with improper function of organ systems. In this study, DEP toxicity was performed by using in vitro human BEAS-2B cell line and in vivo animal model, namely, Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans). The potential toxicity of DEP was assessed by the apical endpoints of BEAS-2B cell line and reflections of C. elegans under exposure scenarios of 0~50 μg mL^–1 DEP. With the increase of DEP exposure concentration, microscopic accumulations in the cytoplasm of cell line and intestine of C. elegans were observed. Such invasion of DEP impaired the behaviors of C. elegans as well as its un-exposed offspring and caused significant impeded locomotion. Moreover, the disorders of dopaminergic function were observed simultaneously under DEP exposure, specifically manifested by the decreased transcriptional expression of dat-1. The stress responses instructed by the expression of hsp-16.2 were also increased sharply in TJ375 strain of C. elegans at DEP concentrations of 1 and 10 μg mL^–1. In the case of cellular reactions to DEP exposure, the injuries of membrane integrity and the decreased viability of cell line were simultaneously identified, and reactive oxygen species (ROS), damaged DNA fragment, and upregulated apoptosis were monotonically elevated in cell lines with the increase of DEP concentrations. This study provided a systematic insight into toxicity of DEP both in vivo and vitro, demonstrating that DEP exposure could disturb the stability of cell system and further threat the stability of organism.

人们普遍认为，柴油机尾气颗粒 (DEP) 与器官系统功能不正常高度相关。在这项研究中，DEP 毒性通过使用体外人 BEAS-2B 细胞系和体内动物模型，即秀丽隐杆线虫( C. elegans ) 进行。DEP 的潜在毒性通过 BEAS-2B 细胞系的顶端终点和秀丽隐杆线虫在 0~50 μg·mL ^–1 DEP暴露情景下的反射进行评估。随着 DEP 暴露浓度的增加，观察到线虫细胞系和肠道细胞质中的微观积累。DEP 的这种入侵损害了秀丽隐杆线虫的行为s 及其未暴露的后代，并造成严重的运动障碍。此外，在DEP暴露下同时观察到多巴胺能功能紊乱，具体表现为dat-1转录表达降低。在 DEP 浓度为 1 和 10 μg·mL ^–1时， hsp-16.2表达指示的应激反应在秀丽隐杆 线虫的 TJ375 菌株中也急剧增加. 在细胞对 DEP 暴露反应的情况下，膜完整性的损伤和细胞系活力的降低同时被鉴定出来，细胞系中的活性氧（ROS）、受损的 DNA 片段和上调的细胞凋亡随着 DEP 的增加而单调升高DEP 浓度。该研究提供了对 DEP 体内和体外毒性的系统洞察，表明 DEP 暴露会扰乱细胞系统的稳定性并进一步威胁生物体的稳定性。