Study On Effects Of Formaldehyde On Immune System In Mice

Objective Formaldehyde is one of the major indoor pollutants, the health effects of formaldehyde are irritating to eyes, nostril and upper respiratory mucous lining and allergic, mutation, carcinogenic and its damage to reproductive, nerve and immune systems. In order to elucidate the effects of formaldehyde on immune system, some indexes were detected including the proliferation of spleen lymphocytes, the activation of IL-2, the apoptosis and the cell cycle of lymphocytes in spleen, the damages of formaldehyde on DNA, the activation of spleen NK cell, the function of abdomen phagocytes and the immune function of red blood cells. Methods 48 healthy KunMing mice were purchased from animal center of XinMin Ministry JiLin University. Body weight of the mice is(18±2)g. The mice were classified into control group and formaldehyde exposed group. The exposed dose was 21.0mg/m3(1/24LC50), 42.0mg/m3 (1/12 LC50) and 84.0mg/m3 (1/6 LC50). 6 male mice and 6 female mice were selected into every group. Mice from exposed group inhaled different concentration of formaldehyde at 2h/d,6d/w for 12w. Mice in control group inhaled air. The proliferation of spleen lymphocytes, the action of IL-2, the apoptosis and cell cycle of lymphocytes, the damages of formaldehyde on DNA, the action of NK cells, the function of abdomen phagocytes and the immune function of red blood cells were detected after the mice were sacrificed. Statistics analyses of quantitative data were conducted using variance analyses. Categorical data were analyzed by Chi-square test. Results 1. Effects of formaldehyde on weight of spleen in mice: The spleen weights in mice from each group were no significant differences (p>0.05). 2. Effects of formaldehyde on the T lymphocytes proliferation, the action of IL-2 and the action of NK cells: the T lymphocytes proliferation of spleen in mice from formaldehyde exposed groups decreased, and there were significant difference between high dose group and normal control group (p<0.01). The activation of NK cell in mice from formaldehyde exposed groups also decreased and there were significant differences compared with control group (p<0.01), and the activation of NK cell from mice in high dose group was significantly lower than the other three groups (p<0.01). The action of IL-2 from mice in middle and high dose group were significantly lower than control group (p<0.01). 3. Effects of formaldehyde on activation of phagocytes: the action of phagocytes in mice from formaldehyde exposed group were significantly inhibited compared with mice from negative control group (p<0.01). 4. Effects of formaldehyde on immune activation of RBC in mice: RBC-C3bRR in mice from middle and high dose groups decreased significantly compared with mice from control group (p<0.05 或p<0.01). RBC-ICRR in mice from middle and high formaldehyde exposed groups also declined significantly contrast to control group (p<0.01). 5. Effects of formaldehyde on cell cycle and apoptosis of spleen cells in mice: The cell percents of G0/G1 phase in mice from high dose group (p<0.05). The cell percent of S phase in mice from middle and high dose...