Short-term inhalation of particulate transition metals has little effect on the electrocardiograms of dogs having preexisting cardiac abnormalities.

There is growing epidemiological evidence for statistical associations between increases in air pollution, especially particulate matter, and increases in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Laboratory studies have shown that transition metals contribute strongly to the effects of high lung doses of model particles on changes in the electrocardiograms of animals. The present study evaluated the effects of short-term inhalation exposure to respirable particles of specific oxide and sulfate forms of transition metals on heart rate and the electrocardiogram of old dogs having preexisting cardiac abnormalities. Conscious beagle dogs were exposed by oral inhalation for 3 h on each of 3 successive days to aerosols of manganese, nickel, vanadium, iron, and copper oxides, and nickel and vanadium sulfates as single compounds at concentrations of 0.05 mg/m(3). Electrocardiograms were recorded and evaluated for exposure-related changes in heart rate, heart rate variability, and abnormalities of waveforms. Although the electrocardiograms of this population of dogs having potential age and cardiovascular susceptibility factors reflected their underlying clinical abnormalities, no significant effect of exposure to the transition metal aerosols was observed.

Effects of subchronic inhalation exposure of rats to emissions from a diesel engine burning soybean oil-derived biodiesel fuel.

There is increasing interest in diesel fuels derived from plant oils or animal fats ("biodiesel"), but little information on the toxicity of biodiesel emissions other than bacterial mutagenicity. F344 rats were exposed by inhalation 6 h/day, 5 days/wk for 13 wk to 1 of 3 dilutions of emissions from a diesel engine burning 100% soybean oil-derived fuel, or to clean air as controls. Whole emissions were diluted to nominal NO(x) concentrations of 5, 25, or 50 ppm, corresponding to approximately 0.04, 0.2, and 0.5 mg particles/m(3), respectively. Biologically significant, exposure-related effects were limited to the lung, were greater in females than in males, and were observed primarily at the highest exposure level. There was a dose-related increase in the numbers of alveolar macrophages and the numbers of particles in the macrophages, as expected from repeated exposure, but no neutrophil response even at the highest exposure level. The macrophage response was reduced 28 days after cessation of the exposure. Among the high-level females, the group mean lung weight/body weight ratio was increased, and minimal, multifocal bronchiolar metaplasia of alveolar ducts was observed in 4 of 30 rats. Lung weights were not significantly increased, and metaplasia of the alveolar ducts was not observed in males. An increase in particle-laden macrophages was the only exposure-related finding in lungs at the intermediate and low levels, with fewer macrophages and fewer particles per macrophage at the low level. Alveolar histiocytosis was observed in a few rats in both exposed and control groups. There were statistically significant, but minor and not consistently exposure-related, differences in body weight, nonpulmonary organ weights, serum chemistry, and glial fibrillary acidic protein in the brain. There were no significant exposure-related effects on survival, clinical signs, feed consumption, ocular toxicity, hematology, neurohistology, micronuclei in bone marrow, sister chromatid exchanges in peripheral blood lymphocytes, fertility, reproductive toxicity, or teratology. This study demonstrated modest adverse effects at the highest exposure level, and none other than the expected physiological macrophage response to repeated particle exposure at the intermediate level.

Role of capsaicin-sensitive afferents in fever and cytokine responses during systemic and local inflammation in rats.

OBJECTIVE: Peripheral afferents play an important role in fever. In the present study, we investigated the role of capsaicin-sensitive afferents in fever and cytokine responses during systemic (induced by intraperitoneal lipopolysaccharide, LPS) and local (induced by injection of Freund's incomplete adjuvant, FIA, into the paw) inflammation. METHODS: Fevers in rats (8-10 weeks of age) whose capsaicin-sensitive afferents were depleted by neonatal capsaicin (50 mg/kg) treatment were compared to those of rats treated as neonates with vehicle. To investigate a possible involvement of cytokines, plasma levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) were measured during LPS- and FIA-induced fever in rats after capsaicin-induced desensitization. Body temperature was measured by biotelemetry. IL-6 and TNF bioactivities in plasma were determined using bioassays. RESULTS: The initial but not the late phase of LPS (50 microg/kg)-induced fever was markedly higher (approximately 1.0 degree C) in rats whose capsaicin-sensitive neurons were destroyed by neonatal capsaicin treatment. Capsaicin-induced desensitization also resulted in significantly higher plasma levels of IL-6 and TNF 1 but not 4 h after LPS challenge. In contrast, the day after injection with FIA (0.1 ml), rats treated with capsaicin had significantly lower body temperatures compared with vehicle-treated animals. No differences were found in plasma levels of IL-6 and TNF between capsaicin- and vehicle-treated animals in response to FIA. CONCLUSIONS: These data indicate that the role of capsaicin-sensitive afferents in fever depends on the type of inflammatory response. During systemic inflammation, capsaicin-sensitive afferents may be involved in modulating fever by regulating the levels of pyrogenic cytokines. During local inflammation, the late phase of fever is partially mediated via capsaicin-sensitive afferents.

[Detecting and evaluating hyperaluminemia in 3 dialysis centers]. / Vyhledávání a hodnocení hyperaluminémie ve trech dialyzacních strediscích.

We have investigated plasma aluminium level in normal conditions and after application of 40 mg of desferrioxamine per one kilogram of body weight in 101 patients with different content of aluminium in dialysate solution. At 20 to 120 months of exposure by dialysate with aluminium content higher than 20 micrograms/l in an average the plasma aluminium level reached 80 micrograms/l in an average and after desferrioxamine application 211 micrograms/l. Plasma aluminium level varied between 80 to 250 micrograms/l in 16 patients with osteomalacia proved by bone biopsy. Oral ingestion of aluminium dosed 500 mg/day may result in significantly high plasma aluminium level. Desferrioxamine test proved significant accumulation of aluminium in some cases with low level of plasma aluminium, and further proved significant accumulation of aluminium in tissues at long time desferrioxamine treatment. Plasma aluminium levels 40 to 80 micrograms/l may be of clinical relevance. Aluminium level was determined by means of atomic absorption spectroscopy in graphite furnace with the accuracy +/- 3.0 micrograms/l.