燒香祭拜祖先與敬奉神明一直是華人社會中相當重視的活動，除了各大、小節慶，及各地大、小廟宇活動外，許多民眾在家中亦有燒香祭祖習慣，拜香於燃燒時會產生含有細小且肉眼不易見的氣膠與微粒，而此類物質對人體呼吸道與肺部健康皆有影響。過去研究多針對燃燒拜香排放氣膠微粒之粒徑、燃燒時所產生之多環芳香烴(PAHs)物種及PAHs所造成之生物毒性進行探討。
有別於一般細菌生物毒性如安姆氏測試、Microtox等，本研究使用人體肺部細胞組織為基礎之生物毒性測試法進行水溶性萃取物毒性暴露測試；此外使用ICP-OES進行金屬含量分析前所使用之傳統微波消化萃取法所得之金屬含量，與進入人體內因為被體液溶出而真正暴露於肺部的金屬含量差異很大(前者為總量，後者為真正暴露量)，因此在針對金屬分析部分的萃取方式，本研究則以模擬人體支氣管濕潤環境滲透壓與PH值相似的磷酸鹽緩衝溶液(phosphate-buffered saline，PBS)，進行水溶性金屬之萃取，與傳統使用硝酸與鹽酸進行之微波消化程序不同。
本研究選取市面上常見之兩種台灣製拜香各三種尺寸，分別放入實驗箱內燃燒，使用和人體支氣管濕潤環境滲透壓與PH值相似之PBS進行萃取，採樣濾紙萃取液以ICP-OES分析萃取液中金屬含量；再利用正常人類肺部支氣管上皮細胞株(Beas-2B)進行細胞存活率測試(MTT Assay)、基因毒性分析(Comet Assay)與細胞氧化性壓力之生物毒性測試，深入探討燃燒拜香排放微粒之水溶性物質與其生物毒性之間的關連。
實驗結果顯示，拜香粗細程度會造成燃燒時溫度不同，而不同拜香材料也會造成溫度的差異，溫度高低依序TS3>TS2>TS1 , TL3>TL2>TL1；細胞存活率的實驗結果顯示，因粗細不同所造成的毒性並無太大差異，即燃燒溫度與生物毒性之間並無明顯相關，但不同拜香種類所造成的毒性效應則有明顯差異，兩種拜香之細胞毒性高低為TS>TL；若更進一步分析暴露細胞中之萃取液金屬成份，本研究發現香種TS的Zn2+含量較高，再配合反應性氧化物種(reactive oxygen species，ROS)之測試結果，結果顯示造成細胞凋亡的原因是來自於Zn2+於氧化過程中所產生之反應性氧化物種，導致細胞氧化性壓力增加所造成。

Burning of Chinese incense for worshipping ancestors and divinity has been important activity in Chinese community. Despite of every festival and activities hold in temples, incense is burned in home as religious daily rituals. Combustion of incense will emit small and unnoticeable aerosols and particles which affect the health of respiratory passages and human lungs. Previous research works mainly focus on the discussion about size of suspended particulate, types of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and cytotoxicity of PAHs during emission of aerosol when burning Chinese incense.
In this research, human lung cells were used as basic cell culture in test of cytotoxicity on water soluble metal species in exposure assessment other than tests such as Ames test and Microtox. Two analytical methods in detecting metal content exposed to human lungs were used. Significant difference in metal content was shown between traditional microwave digestions and extraction of metals using phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). PBS extraction could simulate osmolarity and pH value in respiratory passages and therefore represented realistic exposure metal content in lungs leached from body fluid. It was used as extraction procedure on metal in this study.
Two types of Taiwanese made incense with three different lengths respectively were chosen for evaluation of water soluble metal species emitted from burning Chinese incense on cytotoxicity. The incense was burned in experimental chamber and samples using PBS extraction. Sampled filtrate then carried out ICP-OES measurement on metal content. Ordinary human cell in bronchus, known as Beas-2B, was used to conduct cytotoxicity assay including MTT Assay, Comet Assay and oxidative stress.
The results derived the thickness and different types of incense would affect the temperature during combustion. The burning temperature was in the order of : TS3 > TS2 > TS1 and TL3 > TL2 > TL1. From cell viability assay, the thickness of incense did not cause significant influence of cytotoxicity towards human cell in bronchus. However, different types of incense revealed significant results with TS having higher cell culture cytotoxicity than TL. Further analyzing extracted metal composition from exposed cell discovered TS contained high Zinc (Zn) content. Verified through reactive oxygen species assay, the results concluded cell death was mainly caused by the formation of reactive oxidative species when Zn was oxidized. The formation of such species increased cell oxidative stress and resulted cell death.

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