Effects of selenium administration on oxidative stress in the lungs of mice exposed to pyrolysis oil vapours

Abstract

Pyrolysis oil produced from municipal solid waste is being used as a fuel and little is known about the toxicity of its vapours. We investigated the effects of exposing mice to pyrolysis oil vapours on oxidative stress in lungs. This study also examined whether selenium administration exerts protective actions against the effects of pyrolysis oil vapours. Our results showed that the exposure of mice to these vapours increased the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) and nitric oxide (NO) and decreased catalase activity in the lung as compared to that in control mice. Selenium administration before the exposure to pyrolysis oil vapours restored the levels of MDA and NO as well as catalase activity in lungs to normal. Therefore, the exposure of mice to pyrolysis oil vapours increased the oxidative stress in the lung and the administration of selenium could alleviate the effects of this exposure on oxidative stress.

Keywords

• Lung
• oxidative stress
• pyrolysis oil vapours
• selenium