While the physicochemical and morphological properties of PEPs have been studied in detail, their toxicological profiles remain largely unknown. In a series of recently published papers, several physiologically relevant cell lines (i.e., human small airway epithelial cells, microvascular endothelial cells, macrophages and lymphoblasts) were treated with various doses of PEPs using both mono- and co-culture exposure systems (
Sisler et al., 2014;
Pirela et al., 2015). In both studies, it was shown that PEPs triggered an unfavorable series of biological responses in macrophages, small airway epithelial cells and microvascular endothelial cells at doses comparable to approximately 8 h or more of consumer inhalation of PEPs.
Specifically, cell treatment with PEPs led to significant changes in cell viability, hereditary genetic material changes, reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and release of inflammatory mediators, among other adverse effects. Moreover, recent findings suggest that PEPs can also influence the cellular epigenome. Particularly, a 24-hour exposure to PEPs caused altered expression of DNA methylation machinery in small airway epithelial cells, in turn leading to changes in global DNA methylation and reactivation of transposable element (TE) LINE-1 and
Alu(
Pirela et al., 2015;
Lu et al., 2015a).
Notably, the toxicity of PEPs remains poorly characterized in vivo with only a few published studies. Major discrepancy on those in vivo studies is the use of toner powders rather than the PM and gaseous pollutants emitted from laser printers. For example, Bai, Zhang (
Bai et al., 2010) reported that mice exposed to printer toner particles showed significant pulmonary inflammation, damage to the epithelial-capillary barrier and enhanced cell permeability. Comparable inflammatory and fibrotic responses were also observed in rats exposed to toner powders (
Morimoto et al., 2013). A historic rodent chronic inhalation exposure concluded that toner led to a substantial increase in lung weight, a chronic inflammatory response, pulmonary fibrosis and increased incidence of primary lung tumors in exposed rats (
Muhle et al., 1991).
However, as extensive as these studies were in identifying the biological response in the rodent lung following exposure to toner, they are limited by addressing only the toxicity of toner powder, which may be relevant to occupational settings and workers directly handling toner powders but is not applicable to consumers using laser printers.