Cytotoxicity of Agricultural Dusts

Details

• Personal Author:
  Lawson B ; Pack D ; Stettler L ; Vallyathan V
• Description:
  Exposure to agricultural dusts generated during farming may cause pulmonary disease. A spectrum of diseases caused by diverse etiologic agents are well recognized in agricultural workers. This study was designed to determine whether the mineral dusts generated during agricultural work play a role in the cytotoxicity which leads to lung disease in workers. To investigate this we studied the cytotoxic potential of two agricultural dusts collected during harvest seasons from northern California grape and citrus farms. Samples were analyzed by plasma emission spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy, and x-ray spectrometry to determine the concentration of inorganic minerals and crystalline silica. Rat alveolar macrophages were exposed to these two well characterized agricultural dusts and the release of lactate dehydrogenase, B-N-acetyl glucosaminidase, superoxidedismutase, glutathoine peroxidase and hydrogen peroxide into the medium was monitored as an index of cytotoxicity. In all the bioassays, a dose dependent greater cytotoxicity was found for grape farm dust compared to citrus farm dust. Antioxidant enzymes (SOD, GPx) in grape dust exposed alveolar macrophages were significantly quenched, indicating a potential of the dust to impair defense mechanisms. Total mineral concentration and crystalline silica content in the grape farm dust was significantly greater (21 %) than that in the citrus farm dust (15%). These results correlate with pulmonary function impairments recently reported in the California grape farm workers. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Animals Dust Farmers Laboratories Occupational Health Particulate Matter Quartz Safety Silicon Dioxide
• Keywords:
  Agricultural-industry Agricultural-workers Animal-studies Dust-analysis Dust-exposure Dust-particles Dusts Laboratory-animals Particulate-dust Quartz-dust Silica-dusts

  More +
• ISSN:
  0731-9193
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  California ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 9 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  HELD - Health Effects Laboratory Division ; DBBS - Division of Biomedical and Behavioral Sciences
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  98
• Volume:
  15
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20032241
• Citation:
  Toxicologist 1995 Mar; 15(1):98
• CAS Registry Number:
  Quartz (SiO2) (CAS RN 14808-60-7)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1995
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  The Toxicologist. Society of Toxicology 34th Annual Meeting, March 5-9,1995, Baltimore, Maryland
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:58b9c8d8e9ae5f8aee3880a7529d7bb026a22795c2aed32bd3b6a7ab3a091ea49ae0ae0b61cd3ebeeab93c603c7651dd4527ad0990e3ec3b14e5440f7e836e50
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/186273/cdc_186273_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 930.84 KB ]