Pathophysiology of Air Pollution
Students investigate how air pollutants cause disease at the cellular and molecular level, examining mechanisms of toxicity, inflammatory responses, and the pathways linking exposure to systemic health effects.
5
Lessons
5
Class Periods
Low
Materials Cost
3
NGSS Standards
Essential Question
How do air pollutants cause disease at the cellular level, and what mechanisms link particle inhalation to systemic health effects throughout the body?
Lessons
-
1→Cellular Mechanisms of Damage
-
2→Inflammatory Response
-
3→Oxidative Stress
-
4→Systemic Health Effects
-
5→Case Study Analysis
Key Concepts
Cellular Toxicity
- Membrane disruption
- Organelle damage
- Apoptosis and necrosis
- Particle translocation
Inflammatory Cascade
- Cytokine signaling (IL-6, TNF-alpha)
- Macrophage activation
- Neutrophil recruitment
- Chronic inflammation
Oxidative Stress
- Reactive oxygen species (ROS)
- Lipid peroxidation
- Protein oxidation
- DNA damage and mutations
Systemic Effects
- Endothelial dysfunction
- Autonomic nervous system
- Blood-brain barrier
- Metabolic dysregulation
Standards Alignment
| Standard | Description |
|---|---|
| HS-LS1-2 | Develop and use a model to illustrate the hierarchical organization of interacting systems |
| HS-LS1-6 | Construct and revise an explanation based on evidence for how carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen cycle among major organic molecules |
| HSS-ID.A.4 | Use the mean and standard deviation of a data set to fit it to a normal distribution and estimate population percentages |