Short-Term Inhalation Exposure to Mild Steel Welding Fume Had No Effect on Lung Inflammation and Injury but Did Alter Defense Responses to Bacteria in Rats

Details

• Personal Author:
  Antonini JM ; Chen BT ; Frazer DG ; Roberts, Jennifer R. ; Schwegler-Berry D ; Stone S
• Description:
  Many workers worldwide are continually exposed to complex aerosols generated from welding processes. The objective was to assess the effect of inhalation exposure to mild steel (MS) welding fume on lung injury, inflammation, and defense responses. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to MS fume at a concentration of 40 mg/m3 3 h/day 3 or 10 days using a robotic welding fume generator. Controls were exposed to filtered air. To assess lung defense responses, a group of animals were intratracheally inoculated with 5 104 Listeria monocytogenes 1 day after the last daily exposure. Welding particles were collected during exposure, and chemical composition and particle size were determined. After exposure, lung injury, inflammation, and host defense (bacterial clearance) were measured. The particles were composed of iron (80.6 %) and manganese (14.7 %) with a mass median aerodynamic diameter of 0.31 µ m. No significant difference was observed in lung injury or inflammation after MS fume inhalation at 1, 4, and 11 days after the last exposure. However, there were significantly more bacteria at 3 days after infection in the lungs of the animals exposed to MS fume compared to air controls. Acute exposure of rats to MS fume had no effect on injury and inflammation, but suppressed lung defense responses after infection. More chronic inhalation studies are needed to further examine the immune effects and to elucidate the possible mechanisms of the suppressed lung defense response to infection associated with the inhalation of MS welding fume. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Aerosols Air Pollutants, Occupational Dust Laboratories Lung Occupational Health Particulate Matter Respiratory Function Tests Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety Welding

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• Keywords:
  Aerosol-generators Air-treatment Airborne-dusts Airborne-particles Fumes Inhalation-studies Laboratory-animals Laboratory-testing Lung-irritants Particulates Pulmonary-function-tests Pulmonary-system-disorders Respirable-dust Welding-industry

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• ISSN:
  0895-8378
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  HELD - Health Effects Laboratory Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  182-192
• Volume:
  21
• Issue:
  3
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20035030
• Citation:
  Inhal Toxicol 2009 Feb; 21(3):182-192
• Contact Point Address:
  James M. Antonini, Health Effects Laboratory Division, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 1095 Willowdale Road, Mailstop 2015, Morgantown, WV 26505
• Email:
  jga6@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2009
• NORA Priority Area:
  Construction ; Manufacturing
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Inhalation Toxicology
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:dbea875e9d2dc3dda4436841ec7490f18054279d74d71a30b8000ad5aa02943fb22e2fcf3c80177a0116c40360667817a3b9a20747a012c3df4329f666fb5612
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/187023/cdc_187023_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 730.32 KB ]