Altered Pulmonary Indices and Total Anti-Oxidant Status in Subjects Occupationally Exposed to Chemical Dust

Abstract

Toxic effect of inhaled industrial dust is becoming topical in the development of respiratory diseases, this work examined alteration in Pulmonary Function Indices (PFI) in relation to induction of cytokines (IL1 and TNF-α) and their effect on the Total Antioxidant Status (TAS) in one hundred and twenty adult subjects working in a pharmaceutical industry. Respiratory function was determined using Spirometry, cytokines were estimated using a sandwich ELISA method and TAS was estimated based on principle of Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP). Using percentage FEV1/FVC ratio, 31.2% (39) of subjects had Normal Respiratory function (NR); 24.8% (31) had Mild Restriction (MRs); 24% (30) had Moderate Restriction (MR); 10.4% (13) had Moderately Severe Restriction (MSR); 5.6% (7) had Severe Restriction (SR); 2.4% (3) had Mild Obstruction (MO) while 0.8% (1) had Obstruction combined with Restriction (OR). Mean TAS was 0.64±0.29 and 1.07±0.44 in test and controls (NR), mean TNF-α was 3.9–14.50 and 3.9-84.75 in test and controls respectively while Mean IL1 was 3.9-128.75 and 3.9-55.20 in test and control subjects. Aside from 20% of subjects showing various kinds of abnormal pulmonary dysfunctions, volume of expirable (FEV1) and reserve (FVC) capacity of the lungs in subjects with normal PFI (controls) were higher while the FEV1/FVC% which was significantly different in those with abnormal PFI correlated with the significantly low level of TAS observed in subjects with abnormal PFI. However, the low TAS correlated significantly with the increased level of proinflammatory cytokine (IL1) indicating increased inflammatory activity in subjects with abnormal PFI.