Lung oxidative stress by exposure to air pollution particles

EVELSON, PABLO; MARTIN, SUSANA; MANDALUNIS, PATRICIA; DAWIDOWSKI, LAURA; TASAT, DEBORAH

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Congreso; XII Biennal Meeting of the Society for Free Radical Research International; 2004

for Free Radical Research International

There is an increasing interest in the study of the health effects of particulate matter (PM), a constituent of urban air pollution. Several studies suggest that oxidative stress may be involved in the mechanism of disease initiation and progression following exposure to these particles. In the present study we compared the occurrence of oxidative stress in the lung by exposure to Residual oil fly ash (ROFA) and Buenos Aires (BA) air pollution particles. Their composition and morphology was also evaluated. The occurrence of oxidative stress was assayed using tert-butyl hydroperoxide-initiated chemiluminescence (CL), total antioxidant potential (TRAP) and thiobarbituric reactive substances (TBARS) as end points. PM analysis showed that no transition metals were present in BA whereas in ROFA a peak for vanadium (V) was detected. BA were spherical and smaller than ROFA. Regarding the oxidative stress markers,  ROFA and BA increased CL by 60 % (control value: 3500 ± 300 pmol/ mg prot) and TBARS by 55% (control value: 12.5 ± 1.3 pmol/ mg prot). TRAP values showed no changes in both groups when compared to the control animals (2.46 ± 0.46 nmol Trolox /mg prot). In conclusion, the present study showed that despite their different composition, ROFA and BA induced the generation of oxidant species, suggesting the occurrence of oxidative stress.