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Breathing in diesel exhaust leads to changes “deep under the hood” (epigenetic changes)
http://news.ubc.ca/2015/01/07/breathing-in-diesel-exhaust-leads-to-changes-deep-under-the-hood/[font face=Serif][font size=5]Breathing in diesel exhaust leads to changes “deep under the hood”[/font]
Media Release | January 7, 2015
[font size=3]Just two hours of exposure to diesel exhaust fumes can lead to fundamental health-related changes in biology by switching some genes on, while switching others off, according to researchers at the University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health.
The study involved putting volunteers in a polycarbonate-enclosed booth — about the size of a standard bathroom — while breathing in diluted and aged exhaust fumes that are about equal to the air quality along a Beijing highway, or a busy port in British Columbia.
The researchers examined how such exposure affected the chemical “coating” that attaches to many parts of a person’s DNA. That carbon-hydrogen coating, called methylation, can silence or dampen a gene, preventing it from producing a protein – sometimes to a person’s benefit, sometimes not. Methylation is one of several mechanisms for controlling gene expression, which is the focus of a rapidly growing field of study called epigenetics.
The study, published this month in Particle and Fibre Toxicology, found that diesel exhaust caused changes in methylation at about 2,800 different points on people’s DNA, affecting about 400 genes. In some places it led to more methylation; in more cases, it decreased methylation.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12989-014-0071-3Media Release | January 7, 2015
[font size=3]Just two hours of exposure to diesel exhaust fumes can lead to fundamental health-related changes in biology by switching some genes on, while switching others off, according to researchers at the University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health.
The study involved putting volunteers in a polycarbonate-enclosed booth — about the size of a standard bathroom — while breathing in diluted and aged exhaust fumes that are about equal to the air quality along a Beijing highway, or a busy port in British Columbia.
The researchers examined how such exposure affected the chemical “coating” that attaches to many parts of a person’s DNA. That carbon-hydrogen coating, called methylation, can silence or dampen a gene, preventing it from producing a protein – sometimes to a person’s benefit, sometimes not. Methylation is one of several mechanisms for controlling gene expression, which is the focus of a rapidly growing field of study called epigenetics.
The study, published this month in Particle and Fibre Toxicology, found that diesel exhaust caused changes in methylation at about 2,800 different points on people’s DNA, affecting about 400 genes. In some places it led to more methylation; in more cases, it decreased methylation.
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4 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
My screen name came about because the day I joined DU I had been out riding my bike on a road with a lot of heavy trucks and buses belching diesel fumes and I was feeling the consequences.
