Physico-chemical properties and genotoxic effects of air particulate matter collected from a complex of ceramic industries

The ceramics manufacturing in northeastern Brazil has been dominated by archaic procedures, in which the consumption of native wood extracted from the natural Caatinga biome is used as fuel in the process of clay burning. The aims of this study were to assess particulate matter (PM) physico-chemical characteristics and atmospheric modeling analyses, as well as the genotoxic potential using Tradescantia micronucleus assay associated to the emissions from the ceramic industry complex. The average PM concentration for all analyzed periods was 65 ± 26.2 μg m−3 for total suspended particles, and 23.4 ± 19.9 μg m−3 for PM10. Furthermore, the morphological analysis showed particles typical from biomass burning, such as soot carbon, spherical organic carbon and inorganic ash. The major elemental components were identified as Ba, Zn, Al, K, and Ca. Enrichment factor values showed that Ba and Zn were highly enriched in the ceramic production areas. Modeling analysis suggested that these particles can reach regions farther away from the emission sources. The frequency of micronuclei was 2.7–7.2 times higher than in the non-exposed area for all analyzed months. Moreover, a negative correlation between micronucleus and wind speed (r = −0.91; p = 0.04) was verified. This study addressed the effects of PM emitted from the ceramic industry on DNA damage and showed its genotoxic effects in meiotic cells despite the PM10 concentrations being within the upper WHO limits. The particulate air pollutants emitted from the wood burning by ceramics manufacturing are able to induce DNA damage in T. pallida, suggesting a required higher control of these air pollution emissions.