Peltier Investigates the Effects of Air Pollutants on Cardiovascular Health

Richard E. Peltier, assistant professor of environmental health sciences, has been awarded nearly $750,000 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to investigate the effects of air pollutants on cardiovascular health. The funding is part of a Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00) Peltier received while a postdoctoral fellow at New York University. The second phase, or R00 mechanism, takes effect following Peltier’s acceptance last fall of a tenure track faculty position with the UMass Amherst School of Public Health and Health Sciences.

The objective of the Pathway to Independence initiative is to assist junior investigators in transitioning to a stable independent research position with NIH or other independent research funding. The grant mechanism is highly competitive and the NIH distributes only a limited number of the K99/R00 awards each year.

Peltier, who is trained as an atmospheric chemist, will examine the relative toxicity of different air pollutants and their effects on cardiovascular health. Peltier’s investigation builds on his previous research findings on airborne particulate matter in New York City, which found unusually high concentrations of nickel, a toxic compound known to have deleterious health effects. The results were the first empirical evidence to this problem and eventually helped to lead to a ban in New York City on new residential boilers which use residual fuel oil and lead to high nickel emission levels.

“We regulate based on total amount of particles, or how much total pollution is in a given volume of air,” say Peltier. “But in reality that volume of air can contain different kinds of pollutants, and some are much more toxic than others.”

The relative toxicity of different pollutants, Peltier believes, is caused in part by the aging process. “The atmosphere constantly ages pollution – by the sun and different gases that are in the air – and this changes their chemistry. It changes very quickly. An hour later it’s very different than when it was first emitted. And I think that’s what leads to differences in toxicity.”

No one knows for sure why an aged particle may be more toxic than a “fresh” one. Peltier hypothesizes that it may be due to solubility. “Aged particles are usually more water soluble. When those particles get into our lungs, which are largely a water environment, they react differently than an oily, non-soluble particle. Aged particles – that is to say, water soluble particles – will quickly dissolve in your lungs.”

In order to study this aging effect, Peltier will build a state-of-the-art photochemical aging chamber in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences at UMass. Using a diesel generator, he’ll send exhaust into the aging chamber and change the chemistry of the particles through the use of ultraviolet lamps and the addition of gases commonly found in the atmosphere. His training in applied atmospheric chemistry makes his research approach unique because most investigations do not account for typical environmental processing of airborne contaminants and how this may affect human exposure and subsequent health outcomes.

With a number of promising grant proposals in the pipeline, Peltier plans to continue to expand his lab and build upon his current line of investigation. The results of Peltier’s research could ultimately inform policy decisions and environmental protection regulation that takes into account toxicity, and not just volume, of pollutants.