Abstract:
Objective To explore the formaldehyde and benzene concentrations in the air of newly decorated rooms in Luzhou and to study the genotoxicity of them to mice.
Methods The formaldehyde and benzene in the room air were collected with phenol reagent and active carbon. The concentration of formaldehyde was determined by spectrophotometic method, and the concentration of benzene was determined by gas chromatography. The concentrations(fundamental doses)to which the mice were exposed were formulated by the average concentrations of formaldehyde and benzene in the decorated room air. The genotoxicities of formaldehyde, benzene and those together were detected by mice bone marrow micronuclei tes(t MNCF).
Results The average concentrations of formaldehyde and benzene in the air of newly simple decorated rooms were 0.203 mg/m3 and 0.135 mg/m3. The highest concentrations were 0.780 mg/m3 and 0.450 mg/m3, higher than the national standard for room air by 9.75 times and 5 times respectively. The average concentrations of formaldehyde and benzene in the newly luxury decorated rooms were 0.331mg/m3 and 0.222 mg/m3, the highest concentrations were 1.039 mg/m3 and 0.660 mg/m3, higher than the national standard for room air by 12.99 times and 7.33 times respectively. The concentrations of formaldehyde and benzene in the air of newly decorated rooms tended to decrease as the time went by. There was no significant difference in the MNCF between the fundamental dose experimental groups and the control group, however, significant increments were observed in the 10 times and 20 times experimental groups.
Conclusion The formaldehyde and benzene pollutions are very serious in the air of newly decorated rooms in Luzhou, and even more serious in luxury decorated rooms. These pollutants may cause mutagenic changes to mice bone marrow cells.