Histopathological Impact of Gasoline Vapor Inhalation on the Olfactory Epithelium of Wistar Rats

A common route of exposure to gasoline is the olfactory epithelium. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of gasoline vapor on the histology of the olfactory epithelium and on some biomarkers of oxidative stress. The experiment lasted for 21 days with 35 rats designated into 7 groups. Rats exposed to gasoline were placed in whole body exposure chambers with 500mls of gasoline. The rats were exposed for between 5-30minutes depending on the group for exposure. The histopathology of the olfactory epithelium revealed loss of sustentacular cells (5, 10, 15, 20-minute exposure), proliferation of basal cells (5, 10, 15, 20, 25 minutes), thinning of the olfactory epithelium (10-minute exposure), loss of the apical surface of the olfactory epithelium (15 and 20-minute exposure)and apoptosis (30- minute exposure). Increase in malondialdehyde (p<0.05) was observed after exposure to gasoline (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30-minutes). A decrease in superoxide dismutase (p>0.05) (5, 10, 20, 25, 30-minutes) and a decrease in catalase (p< 0.05) (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30-minutes) was also observed. These results indicate that exposure to gasoline altered the normal histological architecture of olfactory epithelium and induced oxidative stress in albino Wistar rats.

Key Words: Gasoline, Olfactory, Epithelium, Histopathology, Vapor