Genetic Toxicity And Oxidation Damage Of Formaldehyde From Wood-based Boards

Formaldehyde is one of the most important indoor pollutants, it is necessary to evaluate its biology safety. This paper presents our study results on the biology effects of formaldehyde pollution by the experiments on genetic toxicity, oxidation damage and the water solubility test of gaseous formaldehyde.The single cell gel electrophoresis assay (SCGE) and micronucleus test was used to study the genetic toxicity, and the results are as fellows: formaldehyde has role to cell DNA and the high concentration can induced the crosslinks of DNA. The results of micronucleus are as fellows that the micronucleus rate of vicia faba root tip cells and mice marrow cells have close correlation with the concentrations of emitted formaldehyde. The differences of the micronucleus rate between clean air, Ippm and 3ppm groups are of high significance. It is very useful for us to consider the safety of artificial wood-based boards.In the experiment of oxidation damage, the mice were treated with gaseous formaldehyde inhalation in different levels (Ippm and 3ppm) for 72 hours, and then the superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities of various organs (brain, lung, heart, liver, and kidney) were measured. The results showed that gaseous formaldehyde inhalation can cause the suppression of SOD activities, and the degree of oxidation damage caused by formaldehyde were different in various organs, i.e. livers>kidney >lung, especially oxidation damages in liver was serious. It is suggested that the damage mechanism of formaldehyde on organs is involved in suppression of SOD activities and the oxidation damage of Oi' ?on cells.In the experiment of the solution capacity of formaldehyde, the results showed that the formaldehyde can result in excess accumulation of concentrations through water solution absorption.In conclusion, the results of our experiments show that the gaseous formaldehyde at Ippm and 3ppm has genetic toxicity for biology including human,animal and plant. At the same concentration, formaldehyde has oxidation damage for organ of animal (mice), and the damage of liver is the most serious.