Urban PM 2.5 oxidative potential: Importance of chemical species and comparison of two spectrophotometric cell-free assays.

Oxidative potential (OP) of particulate matter (PM) − defined as the capacity of PM to oxidize target molecules generating reactive oxygen species (ROS) − has been proposed as a more health relevant metric than PM mass. In this study two cell-free methods were used to assess the OP of PM filters collected at an urban site and to evaluate correlation with PM mass and PM composition.