Relationship between IgE level and exposure to Formaldehyde during gross anatomy laboratory course

Abstract

The cadavers for the gross anatomy laboratory course are injected with embalming fluid which contains formaldehyde (FA) as a principal component. During the laboratory course, FA vapors are emitted from the cadavers. We previously have reported that subjective symptoms such as eye, throat and/or nasal irritation were occurred by exposure to FA. Symptoms that instructors and students felt during the gross anatomy laboratory course are similar to allergic diseases symptoms induced by allergen. Therefore, we measured blood IgE levels from subjects who participated in the gross anatomy laboratories course. Eight subjects who participated in the gross anatomy laboratory course were examined to determine if the presence of IgE was associated with personal exposure to FA. Blood IgE level of 8 subjects did not significantly increase during gross anatomy laboratory course. There are no relationships between IgE value and FA exposure level. To complement this data, we also investigated the changes in specific IgE to FA of 6 subjects. The results showed that specific IgE to FA of them remained at the same level below the detectable limit level, while FA levels increased. In addition, there are similarities in physiological reaction induced by between FA and allergen. Our present data did not show that the exposure to FA induced the increase of specific IgE level.