Abstract

Air fresheners are widely used as a means of eliminating bad odour, albeit, it has been reported to be associated with some health risks. This work investigated the effect of acute exposure to air freshener on the antioxidant biomarkers of Wistar rats. Twenty-four Wistar rats were used for this study. The rats were divided into four groups of six rats each, labeled group 1, group 2, group 3, and group 4. Group 1, served as control which was not exposed to air freshener. Groups 2, 3 and 4 were exposed in a tightly enclosed cage to air freshener at 6, 9 and 12 h daily, respectively. The rats were sacrificed and blood collected in a sample bottle for analysis of the following antioxidants biomarkers; reduced glutathione (GSH), glutathione peroxidase (GPX), glutathione-S-transferase (GST), superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA) and catalase (CAT) after 14 and 28 days of exposure. The results showed that the blood MDA concentration increased significantly at p≤0.05 with increase in exposure time, a concurrent decrease in catalase and reduced glutathione concentration was observed significantly in the exposed groups when compared to the control. The decrease in SOD was concentration dependent, although not statistically significant, while an inconsistent decrease in the GPx and GST concentrations were observed in exposed groups when compared with the control group. These findings suggest that exposure to air freshener increased oxidative stress, thereby posing potential health hazards to the regular consumers. This study therefore suggests a reduction in exposure to air fresheners as its adverse health effect is proportional to the length of exposure.

Key words: Air freshener, antioxidant, air pollution, oxidative stress.