title: Urban air pollution enhances the formation of urethane-induced lung tumors in mice.
abstract: This paper investigates the association between air pollution and lung neoplasia in an animal model. The experimental exposures were done in two locations with different air pollution profiles: a polluted area (downtown São Paulo) and a "clean" environment (Atibaia). Swiss mice were employed and urethane (3 g/kg) was used as carcinogenic substance. Two experiments were performed: Experiment I was designed to verify whether air pollution acts as initiator and/or promoter of lung cancer, using 300 mice; Experiment II employed 250 animals and aimed to verify if the effects of air pollution on the development of lung tumors was dose dependent. A significant effect of air pollution in augmenting lung carcinogenecity induced by urethane was observed. This effect was shown to be dose-dependent and reproducible on two different occasions. In addition, morphometric studies revealed that pollution may influence tumor phenotype. These results support the hypothesis that air pollution plays a significant role in the development of lung tumors.
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Poluição Atmosférica Experimental, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Reymão
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Cury
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Lichtenfels
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lemos
authors.forename: C N
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Battlehner
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Conceição
authors.forename: V L
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Capelozzi
authors.forename: G S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Montes
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Júnior
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Martins
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Böhm
authors.forename: P H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Saldiva
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000633:toxicity*; D000818:Animals; D002273:Carcinogens / Q000633:toxicity*; D005260:Female; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D014504:Urban Health; D014520:Urethane / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D002273:Carcinogens; D014520:Urethane