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Rats Sniff Off Toxic Air.

Haoxuan Chen¹, Xinyue Li¹, Maosheng Yao¹

¹State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.

Environmental Science & Technology

|January 22, 2020

Summary

Rats can detect toxic air by emitting unique breath volatile organic compound (VOC) profiles. This discovery offers a new method for real-time air toxicity and pollution health effect monitoring.

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Area of Science:

Environmental Science
Toxicology
Biochemistry

Background:

Current air toxicity monitoring is limited to known substances, failing to detect unknown hazards.
Breathing air safety is crucial, yet current monitoring methods are insufficient for comprehensive protection.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if animals can detect airborne toxicants through breath volatile organic compound (VOC) profiles.
To establish a novel method for real-time air quality monitoring and health impact assessment.

Main Methods:

Rats were exposed to various airborne toxicants (endotoxin, O3, ricin, CO2).
Breath-borne VOCs and blood microRNA (miRNA) profiles were analyzed.
Statistical analysis was used to compare VOC profiles under different exposure conditions.

Main Results:

Rats exhibited distinct breath-borne VOC profiles when exposed to different toxicants within minutes.
Specific VOCs like carbon disulfide decreased with endotoxin/ricin exposure but increased with O3/CO2.
Differential regulation of miRNAs (miR-33, miR-146a, miR-155) was observed, indicating varied biological responses.

Conclusions:

Rats can identify toxic air by releasing specific VOC signatures in their breath.
This finding presents a new paradigm for online air toxicity monitoring and understanding pollutant health effects.