Preliminary Study on the Damage in Lungs of Mice Exposed to Xylene

In order to study the damage of xylene in the lung tissue of mice,the healthy adult mice were divided in 3(high,middle,low dose) experimental groups and 1 control group at random.The mice in exposed groups were injected with different doses of xylene(0.5,0.25,0.125 mL/kg),and the mice in control group were injected with equal physiological saline solution by intraperitoneal injection once a day.Histological structures of lungs in mice esposed to different doses of xylene were examined by HE stanning of paraffin section;the activity of the superoxide dismutase(SOD) and the content malondialdehyde(MDA) of lungs in mice exposed to xylene were measured by spectrophotometric method.The result showed that the xylene may lead to pathological lesions in lungs.Compared with the control,the alveolar septa were thicker in mice exposed to xylene,there was more hemorrhage and inflammatory cell infiltration in the alveolar septa.The activities of SOD of lungs in mice were significantly decreased,while the levels of MDA were significantly increased in the high-and middle-dose groups compared with mice in control group.It is suggested that xylene may cause damage in the lungs of mice and the damage is more serious with the increasing dose of xylene.