Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

EFFECTS OF AUTOMOBILE EXHAUST POLLUTION (FROM 2-STROKE AND 4-STROKE ENGINE VEHICLES) ON THE HAEMOTOLOGICAL PARAMETERS OF FEMALE RAT DURING WINTER SEASON

Sukhvinder Kaur

Abstract

Automobile exhaust emissions are responsible for widespread vehicular pollution. Present study was aimed to study the impact of exhaust pipe emissions from two-stroke and four-stroke engine petrol vehicles on certain haematological parameters of female rats in winter season. The purpose of taking two types of vehicles was to study the comparative effect of two types of emissions (using separate technology). Animals were exposed to exhaust emissions for shorter durations for 15 and 30 days. When haematological parameters were studied (and compared to control) in the stressed animals, bleeding and clotting time showed reduction by upto 33% and 25% respectively. Total erythrocyte count and haemoglobin were found to be raised in exhaust exposed animals by about 20%. Certain variations were observed in the differential count ofl eucocytes with monocytes and eosinophil showing significant decrease upto 83% and 48% respectively.Increasing trend was observed in blood glucose up to 18% while blood urea showed an elevation upto 35%in stressed animals. These alterations were dose and duration dependent. The present investigation suggested that exposure to automobile exhaust pipe emissions for even short duration may be highly toxic tomammalian physiology and metabolism, with 2-stroke engine technology proving to be more harmful.