Toxicity of lunar dust assessed in inhalation-exposed rats

Details

• Personal Author:
  Castranova, Vincent ; Chen BT ; Cooper BL ; Driscoll KE ; Gardner DE ; Hunter RL ; James JT ; Lam C-W ; Marshall L ; McClellan RO ; McCluskey RA ; McKay DS ; Renne RA ; Scully RR ; Zhang Y
• Description:
  Humans will again set foot on the moon. The moon is covered by a layer of fine dust, which can pose a respiratory hazard. We investigated the pulmonary toxicity of lunar dust in rats exposed to 0, 2.1, 6.8, 20.8 and 60.6 mg/m(3) of respirable-size lunar dust for 4 weeks (6 h/day, 5 days/week); the aerosols in the nose-only exposure chambers were generated from a jet-mill ground preparation of a lunar soil collected during the Apollo 14 mission. After 4 weeks of exposure to air or lunar dust, groups of five rats were euthanized 1 day, 1 week, 4 weeks or 13 weeks after the last exposure for assessment of pulmonary toxicity. Biomarkers of toxicity assessed in bronchoalveolar fluids showed concentration-dependent changes; biomarkers that showed treatment effects were total cell and neutrophil counts, total protein concentrations and cellular enzymes (lactate dehydrogenase, glutamyl transferase and aspartate transaminase). No statistically significant differences in these biomarkers were detected between rats exposed to air and those exposed to the two low concentrations of lunar dust. Dose-dependent histopathology, including inflammation, septal thickening, fibrosis and granulomas, in the lung was observed at the two higher exposure concentrations. No lesions were detected in rats exposed to ≤ 6.8 mg/m(3). This 4-week exposure study in rats showed that 6.8 mg/m(3) was the highest no-observable-adverse-effect level (NOAEL). These results will be useful for assessing the health risk to humans of exposure to lunar dust, establishing human exposure limits and guiding the design of dust mitigation systems in lunar landers or habitats. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Aerosols Animals Biomarkers Dust Fibrosis Laboratories Lung Men Occupational Health Particulate Matter Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Women

  More +
• Keywords:
  Aerosol-particles Author Keywords: Lunar Dust Toxicity Dust-exposure Dust-particles Dusts Exposure-levels Humans Laboratory-animals Lung Lavage Biomarkers Moon Dust Nose-only Exposure Particulate-dust Particulates Pulmonary-function Pulmonary-system Pulmonary-system-disorders Respirable-dust Respiration Respiratory-system-disorders Risk-factors

  More +
• ISSN:
  0895-8378
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Florida ; Georgia ; New Mexico ; OSHA Region 10 ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 6 ; Texas ; Washington ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  HELD - Health Effects Laboratory Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  25
• Issue:
  12
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20043313
• Citation:
  Inhal Toxicol 2013 Oct; 25(12):661-678
• Contact Point Address:
  Chiu-wing Lam, Toxicology Laboratory, Biomedical Research & Environmental Sciences Division, Wyle STE, NASA-Johnson Space Center SK-4/Wyle, 2101 NASA Parkway, Houston, TX 77058, USA
• Email:
  chiu-wing.lam-1@nasa.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2014
• NORA Priority Area:
  Manufacturing
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Inhalation Toxicology
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7bc9f5e48f4d1cb18998106e287ec9a3208c418815c0bae81c9b3cef6e616c16a57e3c2fc0afaf163ef894537c51b9c68ebce23201cce8efdfd0a7b1f3893fd1
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/195238/cdc_195238_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 4.14 MB ]