Changes of essential metal contents in lungs of rats acutely exposed to nitrogen dioxide

Female Wistar rats were exposed to 20 ppm NO2 for 24 h and 10 ppm NO2 for 10 days and the changes of 5 essential metal contents in the lung were investigated by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry. The contents of calcium (Ca) and copper (Cu) in lungs of rats exposed to 20 ppm NO2 increased significantly compared with controls. On 10 ppm NO2 exposure, the contents of these two metals increased rapidly at an early stage during exposure and zinc (Zn), iron (Fe) and magnesium (Mg) contents increased successively with the increase of lung weight.