Participating partners: UKU

This work package consists of a large number of in vitro tests on immunotoxicological characteristics of settled dust samples from WP3, and analyses of inflammatory markers in blood and nasal lavage fluid from WP4. The work is done centralized at the University of Kuopio. Cytotoxicity, inflammation-associated injury and oxidative stress, which will be analysed in this study, belong to the main toxic mechanisms proposed to be behind the health effects induced by inhalable particle exposure.
Overall objective of toxicological studies is to analyze the immunotoxicological properties of settled dust samples collected from studied school buildings, combine the collected data with information on microbiological and chemical characteristics of the same samples and epidemiological data collected from the exposed persons. This provides a unique opportunity to understand how the components in indoor dust contribute to activated mechanisms of the adverse health outcomes.