EnviroXchange - News Detail

Smog: Bad for Your Heart?

Company Name : Environxchange.com Source : Ivanhoe

Ivanhoe:-

A study in animals reveals exposure to smog may trigger cell death in the heart.

"Several epidemiological studies have linked air pollution to the development of cardiovascular disease, but air pollution contains hundreds of chemicals, and those studies were unable to separate out the effects of individual components," Rajat Sethi, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Texas A&M Health Science Center Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy in Kingsville, Texas, was quoted as saying.

Ozone (O3) is a highly reactive gas that is made up of three oxygen molecules. It becomes a major component of smog when it forms near the ground through reactions between sunlight, nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons from fossil fuels and industrial processes.

Researchers tested four groups of 10 rats that were living in clear plastic-glass boxes. The first two groups were exposed to 0.8 parts per million (ppm) of O3 for eight hours a day, 28 or 56 days in a row. The other two groups were exposed to clean, filtered air for eight hours a day, 28 or 56 days in a row. All the rats breathed 16 hours of clean air overnight.

Results showed the hearts of the rats exposed to O3 had higher levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF a) -- an indicator of heart inflammation. Higher TNF a levels have been linked to a drop in levels of a heart-protective protein called Caveolin-1 (Cav1). Levels of Cav1 also decreased in the hearts of the rats exposed to O3 compared to the healthy controls.

"That link between Cav1 and O3 has never been shown in the heart," Sethi concluded.