Abstract
BackgroundMosquito coil (MC) emits insecticide upon burning which provides limited protection against lethal mosquito borne diseases. However, apart from killing the insect, toxicities associated with the inhalation of these insecticides poses severe health hazards. However, the use of MC is increasing day by day in third world countries in particular but, yet to receive enough attention of both policy maker and general public. The current study was aimed to assess the MC smoke induced damage of pulmonary and hepatic tissues along with observing the alterations of several blood biochemical parameters in mice model.MethodsA total of twenty four Swiss albino mice were allowed to inhale the smoke of allethrin based MC at different duration per day for 120 days. By the end of treatment period, blood sample was drawn from each mouse and blood biochemical parameters including alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), blood urea nitrogen(BUN), serum total protein, cholesterol, low density lipoprotein (LDL) and triglyceride (TG) were analyzed. Intact lung and liver were collected for histological analysis using standard protocol.ResultsBiochemical study indicates elevated activity of two hepatic enzymes: ALT (89%), AST (85%), in comparison with the respective control. Increased level of some parameters of lipid profile including cholesterol (36%), LDL (48%) and triglyceride (30%) in smoke inhaled mice is the new finding of this study. On the contrary, the activity of serum total protein and BUN was decreased by 20% and 24%, respectively in inhaled mice. Pulmonary tissue of treated mice shows severe forms of emphysema and hyperplasia, especially in the peripheral region of lung, which is the hallmark of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Histological study of hepatic tissue shows apoptosis mediated damage of hepatocytes along with severe form of necrosis. Infiltration of Inflammatory cells was also observed in both of the organs.ConclusionResults from the present studies suggest that chronic exposure of allethrin based MC is responsible factor for severe health complications such as COPD due to the alterations of the key biochemical parameters of blood and histo-organization of lung and liver.
Highlights
Mosquito coil (MC) emits insecticide upon burning which provides limited protection against lethal mosquito borne diseases
Data indicates that the activity of two key hepatic enzymes i.e. alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST) were increased significantly by 89% and 85%, respectively in mice exposed to MC smoke for 3 h/ d
With the same exposure, the activity of Blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and total protein was decreased by 24% and 20% respectively
Summary
Mosquito coil (MC) emits insecticide upon burning which provides limited protection against lethal mosquito borne diseases. Mosquito coil is the slow-burning structure made mainly of insecticides along with inert materials such as wood floor, coconut shell powder, starch etc. MC emits smokes, containing single or multiple insecticides, which creates a defending environment and protects the subject from several mosquito borne lethal diseases including malaria, filaria and dengue. Allethrin is a type of neurotoxin, acting both on the peripheral and central nervous systems by modifying the kinetics of voltage-sensitive sodium channel, resulting in increasing of sodium permeability across the channel and paralysis of insect’s organs [1]. On the other hand pyrethroids have well been reported to induce oxidative stress and alter antioxidant level in different organ systems of rodent animal [2, 3]
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