Table 2.

Associations between inorganic soluble chemical constituents, polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and microbes in PM samples and the inflammatory and cytotoxic response markers in mouse macrophages after exposure to three different doses of particles (50, 150 and 300 μg/ml) for 24 h

		n	MTT	PI	SubG 1	TNFα	MIP2
PC1	Al	48	.584**	.487**	0.031	.786**	.808**
	Ca	48	.725**	.620**	.391**	.619**	.687**
	Fe	45	.595**	.496**	−0.013	.816**	.805**
	K	48	.676**	.660	.440**	.492**	.507**
	Mg	48	.686**	.639**	0.256	.680**	.720**
	Na	48	.681**	.605**	.324*	.568**	.608**
	Ni	48	.472**	.461**	.349*	.298*	.305*
PC2	SO4	48	0.059	0.138	.456**	.-468**	.-440**
	NO3	45	.383**	.362*	.341*	0.147	0.22
	V	48	.505**	.468**	.468**	0.194	0.239
	Zn	48	.486**	.478**	.557**	0.104	0.154
	TotalPAH	48	0.004	−0.026	.420**	.-499**	.-416**
PC3	CI	48	.686**	.503**	.381**	.554**	.616**
	F	39	.767**	.670	.744**	0.29	.345*
	Cu	48	.621**	.662**	.485**	.409**	.446**
PC4	Universal bacterial assay	48	.812**	.649**	.327*	.669**	.677**
Other	Genotoxic PAH	48	−0.027	−0.038	.411**	.-539**	.-466**
	EU PAH	48	−0.108	−0.073	.404**	.-626**	.-571**
	Penicillium sp./Aspergillus sp.	48	.702**	.620**	.320*	.610**	.616**
	Cladosporidium cladosprioides	45	.687**	.619**	0.201	.789**	.766**
	Streptomyces sp.	39	.573**	.604**	.615**	0.072	0.09
	Mycobacterium sp.	39	.807**	.762**	.499**	.748**	.768**

The values are Spearman correlation coefficients (ρ), (** p < 0.01, * p < 0.05).

Genotoxic PAH compounds according to WHO (1998).

EU PAH compounds according to the EU Directive 2004/107/EC.