Effect of Environmental Ozone Exposure on Mice Olfactory Bulb: Biochemical Study

Abstract

Background: Environmental ozone (O3) exposure has adverse effects on different body systems such asrespiratory andintegumentary and systems.This experimental work aimed to study the effect(s) of acute and chronic environmental ozone (O3) exposure on the olfactory bulbs (OB) of Swiss Webster and C57BL/6J mouse strains, by using immunochemical (Western blot) technique. Method: Swiss Webster and C57BL/6J mice were exposed to different O3 doses for different number of exposures and durations. Then, the effect of O3 exposure was evaluated by measuring the levels of oxidative stress biomarkers (4HNE and CYP1A1) in plasma and/or in the olfactory bulb (OB) samples, in control and O3 exposed mice. In addition, the body weight of the exposed mice was measured before and after O3 exposure for the two strains. Findings: Ozone exposure caused an increase in the level of the proteins involved in the oxidative stress state in the OB of Swiss Webster mouse strain. However, this effect was not observed in C57BL/6J mouse strain. Moreover, O3 exposure caused a significant decrease in the body weight of the tested mice from the two strains. Interpretation: Environmental O3 exposure can cause toxic effect on mice olfactory bulb. Funding: No fund was received for this work. Declaration of Interest: The author has no conflict of interest to declare. Ethical Approval: Care and use of animals was conducted according to guidelines established by European Council Directives (609/1986 and 63/2010) and Italian laws (DL 116/92 and D. Lgsl. 26/2014) for the protection of animals used for scientific purposes. The experimental protocols were approved by the Committee for Animal Welfare of the University of Ferrara (OBA), by the Directorate-General for Animal Health of the Ministry of Health, and supervised by the Campus Veterinarian of Ferrara University.