AUTHOR(S): 

Lefkothea Evrenoglou, Aikaterini-Sofia Partsinevelou, Thomas Chalastras, Anna-Maria Athanassiadou. Polyxeni Nicolopoulou-Stamati

TITLE

Environmental Prints in Children Nasal Epithelium Living at the Attica Basin

KEYWORDS

Nasal epithelium, nasal biopsies, children exposure, schools, Attica basin, Attica municipalities, Kifissos River, air pollution, histopathology parameters, p53

ABSTRACT

The metropolitan area of Athens is facing to a serious air pollution problem. The mucosa of the nasal epithelium is highly exposed through breathing to all the airborne irritating agents that exist in the urban air. Therefore, the morphological pattern of this mucosa is greatly affected. The study aimed to investigate histopathological alterations in the nasal mucociliary respiratory epithelium of healthy children, in relation to the lodging at the Attica basin. Samples were collected at schools from three different municipalities, north and near to the banks of the Kifissos River, and from a control population who lived in a low-polluted area, apart from Attica basin. The children’s age ranged from 11 to 12 years. 49 samples were collected from exposed areas (11from the Municipality of Philadelphia, 19 from the Municipality of Kifisia, and 19 samples from the Municipality of Kryoneri) and 12 from the control area. Immunoistochemical staining was used to evaluate the expression of p53 protein. The results were analyzed with IBM SPSS Statistics 20 for Windows. Pearson's Chi-square and Friedman test were used to compare nasal epithelium changes between exposed and control areas. No statistically significant differences of the histopathology parameters were observed between exposed groups. Pearson Chi-square test shows a significant difference in the positive immunoreaction of p53 between control and exposed areas (p = 0,000). Friedman test shows that, from the thirteen examinee parameters for each municipality, eight of them were related with a confidence coefficient p = 0,000. None of the 49 exposed children to the Athens environment had normal nasal epithelium, in contrast with the control area. The fact that no statistical differences between the histopathology parameters and the municipalities was observed may confirm that people living at the Attica basin have the same probability of developing alterations in nasal epithelium.

Cite this paper

Lefkothea Evrenoglou, Aikaterini-Sofia Partsinevelou, Thomas Chalastras, Anna-Maria Athanassiadou. Polyxeni Nicolopoulou-Stamati. (2017) Environmental Prints in Children Nasal Epithelium Living at the Attica Basin. International Journal of Medical Histology and Embryology, 2, 8-15