Oxidant stress, antioxidants and nitric oxide in traffic police of Hyderabad, India

Exposure to environmental pollutants is known to be harmful to health, in g eneral, and to lungs in particular. In this respect, traffic police are at particular risk due to the nature of their job, since they are exposed to e missions from the vehicles. Here, we show that in the traffic police of Hyd erabad city, India, the plasma levels of Lipid peroxides are high, whereas the concentrations of the nitric oxide are low. In addition, the levels of various antioxidants in the RBC lysate such as catalase, superoxide dismuta se and glutathione peroxidase were found to be low with no significant alte ration in plasma ceruloplasmin levels. These results suggest that exposure to air pollutants, a major portion of which is due to emissions from the ve hicles, can increase oxidant stress, decrease the levels of antioxidants an d nitric oxide. This imbalance in the oxidant/antioxidant system may lead t o lung damage and is likely to cause respiratory problems in individuals ex posed to air pollution. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.