Mutagenicity of Diesel Exhaust Emission by Micronucleus Test

디젤엔진 배기물질의 변이원성 연구

Interest in the studies of diesel exhaust emission has been increasing by the expected increase in the use of diesel powered automobiles out of concideration of fuel economy. It was well known that diesel exhaust emission was mutagenic in the bioassay as Ames test. The authors tried to find out the cytogenetic effect of diesel exhaust emission by the operational condition of engine such as speed and load. For the investigation of those effects, 66 male mice of ICR strain were used. The benzene-ethanol extracts of diesel exhaust emission were injected intra peritoneum 25rng/kg and 50mg/kg respectively. To evaluate the cytogenetic effect, mouse bone marrow micronucleus test was carried out. The frequency of micronucleus was different among the various groups according to the operational conditions of engine. The frequency of micronucleus in idling group was the highest of all the groups the subgroup of 50mg/kg showed the rate of 1.30%, 25rng/kg subgroup 0.55%. And the group of 2000rpm with 50% load showed the lowest rate of micronucleus appearance as 0.20% and 0.15%. In general, the frequency of micronucleus was shown higher in propotion to load and was shown inversely proportional to speed.