| Research Abstract |
Diesel cars exhaust 30-100 times more particles (DEP) then gasoline engine cars. DEP is one of the most important air pollution substances, especially, in the large city. It was known that soluble organic fraction of DEP contains thousands of organic compound. Previously, the authors found that DEP could react with o-oxygen to produce superoxide anion radical in vitro, and that extract of DEP could cause disease of respiratory organ by production of reactive oxygen intermediates (ROI) and inhibition of degradation of ROI. Further, we found that buffer extract of DEP could activate the alternative pathway of human complement system.
Recently, it is reported that many compounds in environment possess the estrogenic activity. Estrogenic compounds in environment could modulate the endocrine systems and reproductions of animals and human.
In this project, we aimed the establishment of the methods for systematic isolation of compounds in DEP, and evaluation of estrogenic and anti-estrogenic activities of DEP. DEP were extracted serially, with hexane, benzene, dichloromethane, methanol and 1M ammonia. About 80 % of substances in DEP were extracted in this methods. Anti-estrogenic activity was found in extracts of benzene, dichloromethane, and methanol, and estrogenic activity was not found in these extracts. Hexane extract was fractionated to acidic, phenolic and neutral fractions, and it was proved that neutral fraction of hexane extract containes estrogenic compounds. It was found that heterologous compounds in DEP extracts possess the estrogenic activity and one of which was found to be 4, 6-dimethydibenzothiophene. Estrogenic and anti-estorogenic compounds in DEP could affect the endocrine system and reproduction of human.
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