Effects of short‐term high‐dose and low‐dose dermal exposure to Jet A, JP‐8 and JP‐8 + 100 jet fuels

Abstract

Occupational and environmental exposures to jet fuel recently have become a source of public and regulatory concern. This study investigates the cutaneous toxicity of three fuels used in both civilian and military aircraft. Pigs, an accepted animal model for human skin, were exposed to low-dose (25 microl or 7.96 microl cm(-2)) or high-dose (335 microl or 67 microl cm(-2)) Jet A, JP-8 and JP-8 + 100 under occluded (Hill Top) chamber or cotton fabric) and non-occluded conditions for 5 h, 24 h and 5 days. To mimic occupational exposure, fuel-soaked fabric (high dose) was used. Erythema, edema, transepidermal water loss (TEWL) and epidermal thickness were quantified. High-dose fabric occluded sites had slight erythema at 5 h with increased erythema at 5 days. No erythema was noted in any of the occluded (Hill Top) or non-occluded sites at any of the time points. Morphological assessments depicted slight intracellular epidermal edema at all time points. An increase in change in TEWL (DeltaTEWL) was observed at the 5-h and 24-h fabric and Hill Top occluded treatments and a decrease at the 5-day fabric and Hill Top occluded sites. In all 5-day JP-8 + 100 fabric sites, intracorneal microabscesses filled with inflammatory cells were observed. Epidermal thickening was significant (P < 0.05) in all three jet fuels at the high-dose fabric sites, with JP-8 + 100 being the thickest. The epidermal rete peg depth increased significantly (P < 0.05) at 24 h and 5 days with Jet A, JP-8, and JP-8 + 100 in the fabric sites. No significant differences were noted in the 5-day non-occluded fabric and Hill Top occluded and non-occluded sites. Jet fuel JP-8 + 100 tended to have the greatest proliferative response. In conclusion, the high-dose fabric-soaked exposure at 5 days to Jet A, JP-8 and JP-8 + 100 fuels caused the greatest increase in cutaneous erythema, edema, epidermal thickness and rete peg depth compared with high-dose non-occluded or low-dose exposure under Hill Top occluded and non-occluded conditions.

Comparative In Vivo Toxicity of Topical JP-8 Jet Fuel and Its Individual Hydrocarbon Components: Identification of Tridecane and Tetradecane as Key Constituents Responsible for Dermal Irritation

“…Subcorneal microabscesses were observed in all of the 4-day JP-8, and most of the tridecane-, tetradecane-, and pentadecane-treated sites. These findings are similar to Monteiro-Riviere et al (2001a) and other kerosene studies cited in literature. Similar findings were observed in studies of Tagami and Ogino (1973) who found that after 24 hours of exposure with kerosene-soaked clothing in volunteers, intraepidermal and subcorneal vesicles containing neutrophils were present.…”

“…Previously, we have studied the dose-related HC absorption through skin (Muhammad et al, 2004a) suggesting that prolonged skin exposure to jet fuel may result in enhanced toxic effects. Monteiro- Riviere et al (2001a) investigated the cutaneous toxicity of 3 jet fuels and concluded that the high-dose, fabricsoaked repeated exposure to Jet A, JP-8, and JP-8 + 100 fuels caused the greatest increase in cutaneous erythema, edema, epidermal thickness, cell layers, and rete peg depth compared with high-dose nonoccluded or low-dose exposure under occluded (HillTop chambers) and nonoccluded conditions. The ultrastructural analysis of skin exposed to 3 jet fuels revealed low-level inflammation accompanied by the formation of lipid droplets in various skin layers, mitochondrial and nucleolar changes, cleft formation in the intercellular lipid lamellar bilayers, as well as disorganization at the stratum granulosum-stratum corneum interface.…”

JP-8 jet fuel exposure induces inflammatory cytokines in rat skin

“…However, JP-8 does possess proinflammatory properties as it induces TNFa and interleukin-8 (IL-8) in normal, human keratinocyte cultures [12]. When applied to the skin of laboratory animals, JP-8 causes skin barrier disruption and moderate to severe edema and erythema [13], characterized by neutrophil influx [14,15]. Increased expression of IL-1a and iNOS were also noted within 6 h of a single dermal application of JP-8 [15].…”

The cytotoxicity of jet fuel aromatic hydrocarbons and dose-related interleukin-8 release from human epidermal keratinocytes

“…Exposure to jet fuels has been shown to induce a spectrum of toxicological effects in the skin (Grant et al 2000;Kabbur et al 2001;Monteiro-Riviere et al 2001;Rhyne et al 2002;Ullrich 1999). The complex nature of jet fuels, which contain hundreds of discrete chemicals, complicates toxicological assessments and identification of individual chemicals responsible for toxicity.…”