Effects of solar radiation, air pollution, and artificial blue light on the skin
Roger L. McMullen in Antioxidants and the Skin, 2018
Nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides are produced in nature and by human combustion processes. There is serious concern due to their presence in the environment, which greatly affects the quality of ambient air, and also their involvement in the formation of acid rain and smog. In nature, these gases can be produced by volcanic eruptions and lightning strikes. However, the greatest concern stems from their production as a result of fossil fuel burning by electrical power plants and their production by combustion engines in automobiles. The nitrogen oxides, nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), are two gases of particular concern, which are formed when nitrogen reacts with oxygen. It should be noted that NO2 is very poisonous. Likewise, sulfur dioxide (SO2) is used as an indicator of the total sulfur oxides in the air. In addition, the formation of carbon monoxide in the environment is also troubling as it interacts with hemoglobin, and competes with its interaction with oxygen, hence interfering with oxidative metabolism.
Corrosives
Bev-Lorraine True, Robert H. Dreisbach in Dreisbach’s HANDBOOK of POISONING, 2001
The nitrogen oxides are emitted into the atmosphere as a result of combustion of any nitrogen-containing substances. Thus, missile fuels, explosives, cigarettes, and agricultural wastes liberate nitrogen oxides. Nitrogen dioxide is also liberated during the rapid decomposition of plant material, as happens in silos. In an enclosed silo the concentration of nitrogen dioxide may reach as high as 1500 ppm. In addition, combustion at high temperatures of nitrogen-free fuels in the presence of air oxidizes the nitrogen of the air to nitric oxide (N2 + O2 = 2NO). At 1800K, 1% of the reactants will be converted, and at 2675K, 5% of the reactants will be converted. Unmodified auto or diesel exhaust contains 1100 ppm of nitric oxide, producing an emission of 0.13 lb per gallon of fuel or 4 g per mile for a vehicle consuming 1 gallon of fuel each 15 miles. Since 1977 federal regulations in the USA have limited all new automobiles to an emission of 0.31 g of nitrogen oxides per mile. Cigarette smoke contains 200–650 ppm of nitrogen oxides, and pipe smoke contains 1100 ppm.
Environmental Toxins
Gia Merlo, Kathy Berra in Lifestyle Nursing, 2023
Ozone (O3) is a highly reactive gas composed of three oxygen atoms. Ozone occurs naturally in the environment but can also be a man-made product that has adverse effects on human health. Stratospheric ozone occurs naturally and reduces the amount of harmful ultraviolet radiation that reaches the Earth’s surface. Ground level ozone is formed from man-made processes and is able to be inhaled by humans. Ground level ozone is mainly formed from photochemical reactions between two major classes of air pollutants, volatile organic compounds (VOC) and nitrogen oxides. Significant sources of VOC in the environment are chemical plants, gasoline pumps, and autobody shops. Nitrogen oxides result primarily from high temperature combustion from sources such as power plants, industrial furnaces and boilers, and motor vehicles (EPA, 2021a).
The rising of allergic respiratory diseases in a changing world: from climate change to migration
Published in Expert Review of Respiratory Medicine, 2020
Benedetta Biagioni, Isabella Annesi-Maesano, Gennaro D’Amato, Lorenzo Cecchi
The evidence that air pollution can cause exacerbations of preexisting asthma is supported by studies and data accumulating for several decades. Nitrogen dioxide, ozone and particulate matter, have been significantly associated with increased asthma exacerbations and higher asthma medication intake [31]. Particulate Matter (PM) is a ubiquitous atmospheric aerosol with both anthropogenic and natural sources that can be classified on the basis of its aerodynamic diameter in PM10 or PM2.5, the latter being also called fine particles. PM2.5 can easily penetrate deeply into bronchial tree, affecting distal airways. Nitrogen oxides gases, such as nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), are mainly produced from the reaction between nitrogen and oxygen during combustion fuels and are a significant source of air pollution in areas of high motor vehicle traffic.
S-Nitrosoglutathione formation at gastric pH is augmented by ascorbic acid and by the antioxidant vitamin complex, Resiston
Published in Pharmaceutical Biology, 2018
Vitali I. Stsiapura, Ilya Bederman, Ivan I. Stepuro, Tatiana S. Morozkina, Stephen J. Lewis, Laura Smith, Benjamin Gaston, Nadzeya Marozkina
This work is important because high oral doses of AA and AA-containing antioxidant complexes are commonly used and have benefits in a number of diseases (Cameron and Pauling 1978; Sukolinskii and Morozkina 1989; Morozkina et al. 1991; Du et al. 2012; Rodrigo et al. 2014). Our data suggest that, rather than depleting gastric GSNO levels as we expected, these high exposure levels stabilize GSNO at gastric pH. This could actually augment gastric motility, vascular smooth muscle relaxation and host defence. Additional studies will be required, however, to determine the fate of GSNO under these conditions, and whether GSNO contributes to the beneficial effects of antioxidant complexes. The gastric chemistry of nitrogen oxides is also important because nitric oxide synthase (NOS) deficient mice are viable (Huang 2000). We have hypothesized that exogenous nitrogen oxides in the gut and lung can provide nitrogen oxides in a NOS-independent fashion. For example, the lung lining fluid normally contains near mM levels of reduced GSH and μM levels of nitrite; these are cleared from the airways to the larynx and swallowed. Under conditions of mild acidification in the gut and distal airways, inorganic formation of luminal S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO) would be predicted (Gaston et al. 1993; Fang et al. 1998; Gaston, Singel, et al. 2006; Marozkina and Gaston 2012, 2015). Our current data suggest that this NOS-independent source of stable nitrogen oxide bioactivity is stabilized, rather than broken down, by oral ingestion of AA given as an antioxidant therapy.
The toxicology of air pollution predicts its epidemiology
Published in Inhalation Toxicology, 2018
Andrew J. Ghio, Joleen M. Soukup, Michael C. Madden
The interaction between air pollution particles and ozone is suggested to impact human health effects (Figure 2(A)). Air pollution particles include a significant concentration of HULIS (i.e. polycarboxylates), and investigation predicts further carboxylation of this PM following ozone exposure. This results in a particle with a greater capacity to impact (1) iron sequestration resulting in an increased disruption in metal homeostasis and (2) subsequent inflammation and fibrosis. Damage induced by ozone-reacted HULIS is in addition to lung cell injury associated with ozone exposure, which may or may not be a different type of injury and may make the cells more sensitive. Such interaction between particles and ozone is supported by epidemiological, controlled exposure, animal, and in vitro investigation (Bosson et al., 2008; Chen et al., 2007; Jakab & Hemenway, 1994; Kafoury & Kelley, 2005; Madden et al., 2000, 2014; Molhave et al., 2005; Stiegel et al., 2016). Furthermore, it is possible that other components of air pollution (e.g. nitrogen oxides) also participate in modifying the functional groups at the ambient PM surface and subsequently impact human health through the same pathway (Ciobanu et al., 2016). Finally, an additional source of HULIS production could be photooxidation from ultraviolet radiation, which would result in changes comparable to ozone exposure.
Related Knowledge Centers
- Dimerization
- Nitrogen Dioxide
- Nitrous Oxide
- Oxygen
- Nitric Oxide
- Nitrogen
- Nitrate Radical
- Nitronium Ion
- Atmospheric Chemistry
- Mixed Oxides of Nitrogen