A new study co-authored by APCG member Prof. Nikolaos Mihalopoulos investigates the oxidative potential of particulate matter across Europe, highlighting important spatial differences and the influence of traffic, biomass burning, sea salt, and Saharan dust on PM toxicity.<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":619,"id":619,"title":"nature-2025","filename":"nature-2025.png","filesize":456068,"url":"https:\/\/apcg.idcom.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/nature-2025.png","link":"https:\/\/apcg.idcom.gr\/index.php\/news\/new-study-published-by-springer-nature-highlights-oxidative-potential-of-particulate-matter\/nature-2025\/","alt":"","author":"3","description":"","caption":"","name":"nature-2025","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":618,"date":"2026-08-31 17:59:19","modified":"2026-08-31 17:59:19","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/apcg.idcom.gr\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1087,"height":720,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/apcg.idcom.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/nature-2025-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/apcg.idcom.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/nature-2025-300x199.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":199,"medium_large":"https:\/\/apcg.idcom.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/nature-2025-768x509.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":509,"large":"https:\/\/apcg.idcom.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/nature-2025-1024x678.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":678,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/apcg.idcom.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/nature-2025.png","1536x1536-width":1087,"1536x1536-height":720,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/apcg.idcom.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/nature-2025.png","2048x2048-width":1087,"2048x2048-height":720}},"full_text":"
A new study published in Nature<\/em>, co-authored by APCG team member Prof. Nikolaos Mihalopoulos<\/strong>, investigates the oxidative potential (OP)<\/strong> of atmospheric particulate matter (PM) and its potential value as a complementary indicator to conventional PM mass measurements.<\/p>\n The study analyses almost 11,500 oxidative potential measurements from 43 locations across Europe<\/strong>, revealing substantial spatial variability and demonstrating how particle reactivity differs between urban, rural, traffic, and other environments.<\/p>\n The findings highlight the important role of traffic and biomass burning<\/strong> in driving particulate matter oxidative potential. In particular, near-road environments were found to have substantially higher OP levels than background areas, while Mediterranean coastal cities such as Athens<\/strong> show distinctive PM characteristics influenced by sea salt and Saharan dust<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The research demonstrates that PM mass concentration alone may not fully capture differences in the health-relevant properties of particulate matter. Incorporating oxidative potential alongside conventional mass-based metrics could therefore provide additional information for assessing exposure and developing more targeted air-quality mitigation strategies.<\/p>\n The study represents an important contribution to the understanding of particulate matter reactivity and its implications for air quality and environmental health across Europe.<\/p>\n