The mechanisms of the formation of pneumoconiosis under high-altitude conditions]

Lipid peroxidation parameters, such as malonic dialdehyde and antioxidant defense (superoxide dismutase and catalase activities) were studied in healthy individuals, miners of different occupations, working at mines of different altitudes. The studies showed that increased lipid peroxidation and decreased antioxidant defense are connected with the altitude of work and exposure to the quartz-containing dust combined with hypobaric hypoxia. Malonic dialdehyde, the final toxic product of peroxidation, is accumulated as a result of it. Increased membranous lipid peroxidation results in death and lysis of cells. It becomes the principal pathogenetic component of pneumoconiosis formation and clarifies the mechanism of its early development, comparatively fast progressing, frequency of nodular forms in miners from the high and middle altitudes. That testifies the ability of hypobaric hypoxia to produce silicosis.