title: Oxidative damage of dust storm fine particles instillation on lungs, hearts and livers of rats.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of dust storm fine particles (PM(2.5)) on oxidative damage in lungs, hearts and livers of rats. Wistar rats were randomly divided into treated groups using PM(2.5) at different concentration (1.5, 7.5, 37.5mg/kg) and control groups using saline. After a single intratracheal instillation 24h, rats were sacrificed and activities of Cu,Zn-superoxide dismutase (SOD), levels of glutathione (GSH) and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) were investigated in these three organs of rats. Results show that dust storm PM(2.5) and normal weather PM(2.5) from both Baotou city and Wuwei city caused a dose-dependent decrease of SOD activities and GSH contents in lungs and livers, and a dose-dependent increase of TBARS levels in lungs, hearts and livers of rats as compared to their respective controls. Though the effects induced by normal weather PM(2.5) slightly heavier than dust storm PM(2.5) in both Baotou city and Wuwei city on each examined index, no significant difference was found. Furthermore, no significant difference was observed between the effects induced by dust storm PM(2.5) from Baotou city and that from Wuwei city, or between the effects induced by normal weather PM(2.5) from Baotou city and that from Wuwei city. These results lead to conclusions that both dust storm PM(2.5) and normal weather PM(2.5) could lead to oxidative damage of different disagrees in lungs, hearts and livers, suggesting that the dust storm PM(2.5) whose airborne mass concentrations were much higher should be more harmful. Its toxic effects might be attributed to oxidative damage mediated by pro-oxidant/antioxidant imbalance or excess free radicals. Further work is required to understand the toxicological role of dust storm PM(2.5) on multiple or even all organs in mammals.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environmental Medicine and Toxicology, Shanxi University, Wucheng Road 36#, Taiyuan 030006, Shanxi Province, PR China.
authors.forename: Ziqiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.forename: Quanxi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang