Differential Health Effects of Constant versus Intermittent Exposure to Formaldehyde in Mice: Implications for Building Ventilation Strategies

Formaldehyde, an air pollutant in the indoor environment, may have severe effects on human health. The aim of this study is to compare the health effects caused by intermittent exposure to formaldehyde (based on real monitoring) to those caused by exposures at constant concentration. Health effects explored in this study including the oxidative stress, histopathological changes, inflammatory responses, etc. Mice were divided into three groups and exposed to intermittent concentration formaldehyde (0.8 ppm for 12 h and 0 ppm for another 12 h), or constant concentration formaldehyde (0.4 ppm for 24 h) or zero concentration formaldehyde (reference) per day for 7, 14, and 28 days. Following these exposures, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), lung tissue and lung tissue homogenate were prepared to measure biomarkers of oxidative stress (ROS, MDA, GSH), histopathological changes, inflammatory responses (EOS, NEU, LYM, IL-4, IL-5, IL-13, IL-6, IL-17A, NF-kappa B, IL-1 beta) and apoptosis (caspase-3). Compared to the constant exposure, intermittent exposure to fluctuating formaldehyde concentrations resulted in more profound increases in numbers of inflammatory cells in the BALF, greater biological alterations including apoptosis. The findings imply that with the same average indoor formaldehyde concentrations over the same time, a ventilation strategy to avoid higher peak concentrations would lead to lower health risks.