Toxicology - Research Paper Example

Individuals who smoke and are exposed to asbestos have a significantly higher rate of asbestosis than individuals who do not smoke and are exposed to asbestos. Why? Asbestos is any of the several minerals that separate readily into long, flexible fibers with chrysotile being the best known and most commonly used. It is a hydrous magnesium silicate with chemical compound with the formula Mg3Si2O5(OH)4. It is long known that prolonged exposure through inhalation of some forms of the tiny fibers can result in a lung condition known as asbestosis which is a rapidly fatal form of lung cancer.

Furthermore, epidemiologic studies have established that cigarette smoking seriously aggravates the symptoms of asbestosis and increases the risk of cancer. However, the synergistic interaction between tobacco smoking and inhalation of asbestos remains yet to be established and is subject to hypothesis. Asbestos as well as tobacco smoke is a well-established lung carcinogen. It is known that inhaled asbestos fibers remain in the lungs for years eventually assisting in the formation of free radicals and reactive oxygen species that subsequently cause excessive scarring, tissue injury, and cellular growth in the lungs via large scale loss of chromosomes.

Although several hypothesis has been put forward to explain the multiplicative effects of asbestos and tobacco smoke, it is possible that asbestos fibers on the lungs surface concentrate the tobacco carcinogens thereby enhancing delivery of the large amounts of carcinogens to the nucleus of the target cell. Indeed, this hypothesis is supported by a modeling experiment in which it was shown that phospholipids coating the lung epithelium adhere to the asbestos fibers, which ultimately enhance the hydrophobicity of the fiber (Gerde & Scholander, 1988).

With the enhanced hydrophobicity of the fibers, the hydrophobic carcinogens in the tobacco can easily dissolved on the fiber in large amounts and are delivered in large concentrations to the cell nucleus. Thus there will be large concentrations of carcinogens in the cell nucleus unlike when the case of an individual that is exposed to asbestos but do not smoke. Works Cited Gerde, P., & Scholander, P. (1988). Adsorption of benzo(a)pyrene on to asbestos and manmade mineral fibres in an aqueous solution and in a biological model solution. Br. J. Ind. Med.

, 682-688.