Laboratory of Pharmacology, Department of Bioactive Molecules, Gifu Pharmaceutical University, Gifu, Japan.
Environ Toxicol. 2011 Jun;26(3):224-32. doi: 10.1002/tox.20547.
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are considered the main cause of sick building syndrome and they are likely to irritate the skin, eyes, and mucous membrane; however, the toxic threshold and the mechanisms of cutaneous reaction induced by long-time VOC exposure have not been clarified. In the present study, we investigated the effect of repeated painting of VOCs onto mouse skin. Various concentrations of toluene, xylene, and formaldehyde (FA) were applied once a week for 5 weeks. While FA solution (2-10%) induced remarkable ear swelling and caused evident infiltration of inflammatory cells, high concentrations of toluene and xylene (50 or 100%) evoked mild ear swelling and marginal inflammatory cell invasion. In addition, FA exposure markedly increased the expression of interleukin-4 (IL-4), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), neurotrophin-3 (NT-3), and transient receptor potential vanilloid-1 (TRPV-1) mRNAs in the ears and IL-4 and NT-3 mRNAs in the cervical lymph nodes. Furthermore, capsazepine, a TRPV-1 antagonist, significantly suppressed ear swelling caused by repeated painting of 5% FA. These findings demonstrate that FA has more potent irritancy against skin than toluene or xylene and suggest that the Th2 response, neurotrophins and TRPV-1 play important roles in FA-induced skin inflammation.
挥发性有机化合物（VOCs）被认为是病态建筑综合征的主要原因，它们可能会刺激皮肤、眼睛和黏膜；然而，长时间暴露于 VOC 引起的皮肤毒性阈值和反应机制尚未阐明。在本研究中，我们研究了将 VOC 反复涂于小鼠皮肤的影响。每周一次将不同浓度的甲苯、二甲苯和甲醛（FA）应用于皮肤 5 周。FA 溶液（2-10%）引起显著的耳部肿胀，并导致明显的炎症细胞浸润，而高浓度的甲苯和二甲苯（50 或 100%）引起轻度的耳部肿胀和边缘炎症细胞浸润。此外，FA 暴露显著增加了耳部中白细胞介素-4（IL-4）、脑源性神经营养因子（BDNF）、神经营养素-3（NT-3）和瞬时受体电位香草酸-1（TRPV-1）mRNA 的表达，以及颈部淋巴结中 IL-4 和 NT-3 mRNA 的表达。此外，TRPV-1 拮抗剂辣椒素显著抑制了 5%FA 反复涂药引起的耳部肿胀。这些发现表明，FA 对皮肤的刺激性比甲苯或二甲苯更强，并提示 Th2 反应、神经营养因子和 TRPV-1 在 FA 诱导的皮肤炎症中发挥重要作用。
