Subacute inhalation toxicity assessment of fly ash from industrial waste incinerators

Ilseob Shim, Eunha Oh, Sangyoung Yang, Taekwon Ryu, Jaewon Soh, Donggeun Sul, Pilje Kim

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    4 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Fly ash from industrial waste incinerators has been a significant concern because of their constituent toxic heavy metals and organic compounds. The objective of this study was to identify the subacute inhalation toxicity of fly ash from industrial waste incinerators, using whole body inhalation exposure chambers. Male and female groups of Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to fly ash by inhalation of concentrations of 0, 50, 100, 200mg/m3, for 6h/day, 5 days/week for 4 weeks. There was no significant difference in body weight, and relative organ weight to body weight, between the exposure groups and the control group. Hematological examinations revealed a significant increase of monocyte counts in fly ash exposed rats and brown pigment laden macrophage was found in the lungs of rats exposed to high concentration of fly ash. A decrease of blood glucose levels and an increase in glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase activity were observed in fly ash treated rats. There was also a significant increase of lactate dehydrogenase levels in rat blood exposed fly ash. A significant dose-dependent increase of DNA damage was found in lymphocytes, spleen, bronchoalveolar lavage, liver, lung, and thymus of rats exposed to fly ash. In addition, the level of lipid peroxidation was increased in the plasma of rats exposed to a high concentration of fly ash. These results suggest that inhalation of fly ash from industrial waste incinerators can induce histopathologic, hematological, and serum biochemical changes and oxidative damage.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)741-750
    Number of pages10
    JournalInhalation Toxicology
    Volume24
    Issue number11
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2012 Sept

    Bibliographical note

    Funding Information:
    This work was supported by the National Institute of Environmental Research (2010).

    Keywords

    • Comet assay
    • Fly ash
    • Heavy metals
    • Inhalation
    • Lipid peroxidation

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Toxicology
    • Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

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