Host: The Japanese Society of Toxicology
The present it is known that exposure to hazardous chemical can adversely affect the health of the underlying disease, but scientific verification and research on the mechanisms of an exacerbation are insufficient. In this study investigated the exacerbating effect of lung injury in a monocrotaline (MCT)-induced pulmonary arterial hypertension (PHA) rat model by formaldehyde (FA). We constructed an animal disease model by inducing PHA by single subcutaneous injection with MCT, and then treated FA (2.5 and 5 mg/kg) using the intratracheal instillation (ITI) method. After 4 weeks of experiment, the rat were euthanized and weighed, and their tissues were subjected to histopathological examination, ELISA assay, western blotting, and RNA sequencing assay. As a result, all the MCT+FA groups decreased weight compared to the other groups, and the weight of heart or lung tissue increased. The right ventricular hypertrophy (RVH) and neutrophil changes in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were significantly increased in all MCT + FA groups. Finally, in all MCT + FA groups, exacerbation of lung lesions such as granulomatous inflammation, mucous cells, and epithelial hyperplasia were observed. Moreover, it was observed that the expression of genes related to lung injury and hypertension such as apoptosis, inflammatory response, angiogenesis, and oxidative stress increased in all MCT + FA groups compared to FA and MCT groups. Therefore, it is suggested that the FA, which is known as a hazardous chemical in the indoor environment, has the potential to exacerbate the underlying disease.
