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JP-8 jet fuel exposure results in immediate immunotoxicity, which is cumulative over time

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA, davidh{at}u.arizona.edu

Debbie Sakiestewa

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA

Dominic Titone

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA

R Scott Young

Department of Pediatrics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA

Mark Witten

Department of Pediatrics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USAa

The US Air Force has implemented the widespread use of JP-8 jet fuel in its operations, although a thorough understanding of its potential effects upon exposed personnel is unclear. In the present study, the immediate effects of JP-8 exposure on the immune system were analyzed. Exposure of mice once to a single 1000 mg/m³ concentration of JP-8 for one hour resulted in significant immune organ weight loss and loss of viable immune cells from the spleen within two hours post-exposure. Although a similar exposure had no effect on thymus organ weight, it did result in significant losses of viable immune cells at one hour post-exposure. It was also observed that a loss of viable bone marrow cells could be seen at four hours post-exposure, with a return to baseline levels by 24 hours post-exposure. In terms of peripheral blood immune cells, a significant loss of viable immune cells was observed within one hour post-exposure, which became more pronounced with time. Further, it was observed that a single one-hour JP-8 exposure resulted in an immediate loss of immune function at one hour post-exposure that did not recover within 24 hours. An extension of the above experiments revealed that each additional one hour/day of exposure to 1000 mg/m³ of JP-8 promulgates the significant immunotoxicity described above. That is, spleenic organ weights, as well as viable cell numbers, continued to decline with additional days of short-term exposure. Thymic organ weights were significantly reduced at three to four days of one-hour exposures, with a continuing loss of viable cell numbers. Significantly, functional immune responses continued to deteriorate with each additional day of JP-8 exposure. Thus, low concentration JP-8 jet fuel exposures have significant effects on the immune system, these effects occur rapidly and these effects are cumulative over time.

Key Words: hydrocarbon inhalation • immunotoxicology • jet fuel • JP-8

Toxicology and Industrial Health, Vol. 18, No. 2, 77-83 (2002)
DOI: 10.1191/0748233702th135oa


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