Presence of stable coal radicals in autopsied coal miners' lungs and its possible correlation to coal workers' pneumoconiosis

Details

• Personal Author:
  Dalal NS ; Green FH ; Jafari B ; Petersen, Martin R. ; Vallyathan V
• Description:
  An attempted was made to correlate the concentration of stable coal radicals (SCRs) present in the lung tissue with coal workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP) disease pattern, severity of CWP, cancer of the lung, smoking, and type of coal exposure. Lung tissue samples were obtained from 98 coal miners and 11 non coal miners (referents) through autopsy. The results of the electron spin resonance (ESR) studies provided evidence for the presence of SCRs embedded in the lung tissue even after years of residence in the lung. The mean concentration of SCRs in the lung tissues of miners with 30 years of coal mining exposure was 5.3x10(17) spins/gram versus referents who had nondetectable levels. Significantly higher concentrations of SCRs were found in coal miners' lungs associated with an exposure history in the anthracite regions of northeastern Pennsylvania. Normally, organic radicals such as those generated by fracture of the coal would have short lifetimes. However, their lifetime may be extended because they are stabilized within the coal particles. Because coal is porous, the possibility of reactivity with these entrapped SCRs cannot be ruled out. These entrapped SCRs might indeed by involved in the biochemical reactions of coal that result in lung injury. The authors suggest the ESR methodology can be useful in providing quantitative measurements of coal dust load and distinguishing between anthracite and bituminous coal mine exposures. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Coal Dust Lung Mining Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety Smokers Tobacco Products

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• Keywords:
  Cigarette-smoking Coal-dust Lung-tissue Mining-industry NIOSH-Author Occupational-exposure Postmortem-examination Respiratory-system-disorders Tissue-distribution Underground-miners
• ISSN:
  0003-9896
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; Pennsylvania ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DRDS - Division of Respiratory Disease Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  366-372
• Volume:
  46
• Issue:
  6
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00204716
• Citation:
  Arch Environ Health 1991 Nov; 46(6):366-372
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1992
• NORA Priority Area:
  Pulmonary System Disorders
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Archives of Environmental Health
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:fa251a54607c596e0729a7846443c8ef8635a786c00e39ae92c9a89c39ad501843566aeb0eeea32697b05796fa79299c1ff69130d9032309593df1479fe232af
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/205393/cdc_205393_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 797.11 KB ]