RESEARCH PAPER
CYTOTOXIC EFFECT OF ORGANIC DUST EXTRACTS FROM DIFFERENT WORKING ENVIRONMENTS: AN IN VITRO ASSAY
 
More details
Hide details
1
Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, University of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark
 
 
Corresponding author
Vibe Roepstorff
Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, Universitetsparken Bld. 180, University of Aarhus, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
 
 
Ann Agric Environ Med. 1997;4(2):195-201
 
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
The evidence supporting organic dust as a cause of occupationally-related lung disease has substantially increased in the post two decades. The aim of this project was to test an assay which could be used to detect cytotoxic potential of organic dusts found in working environments. A cytotoxic assay with two cell lines was used: VERO and human A 549 carcinoma cells. Cells were exposed to extracts of dust samples collected from five different occupational environments with known adverse respiratory effects, using two different extraction protocols. Compared to water, alkaline soluble extract exerted the greater cytotoxic effect on the cells. With this assay it was possible to distinguish differences in the cytotoxic potential of the different types of organic dusts. The most aggressive dusts proved to be those with a high microbial content, such as compost and grain dust, which exerted an effect already after 2 hours of incubation at low concentrations.
eISSN:1898-2263
ISSN:1232-1966
Journals System - logo
Scroll to top