Pulmonary Toxicity Studies of Lunar Dust in Rodents C.-W. Lam, 1, 2,* J. T. James, 1 N. Khan-Mayberry, 1 D. Hammond, 2,3 R. Hunter, 4 R. McCluskey, 5 L. Taylor, 6 B. T. Chen, 7 P. C. Erdely, 7 and V. Castranova. 7 1 Johnson Space Center Toxicology Group and 2 Wyle, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX; 3 Bioanalytical Core Labo- ratory, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX; 4 Dept. of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Texas Medical School, Houston TX; 5 Center for Disease Control, Atlanta, GA; 6 Dept. of Earth & Planetary Sci- ences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN; and 7 Health Effect Laboratory Division, National Institute for Oc- cupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, WV. * [email protected] Introduction: NASA plans to build an outpost on the lunar surface for long-duration human habitation and research. The surface of the Moon is covered by a layer of fine, reactive dust, and the living quarters in the lunar outpost are expected to become contaminated by lunar dust. Because the toxicity of lunar dust is not known, NASA is concerning about its toxicity. We studied the pulmonary toxicity of lunar dust similant (JSC-1), and are currently assessing the toxicity of lunar dust in lungs of exposed rodents. The results of our preliminary study examining the biomarkers of toxicity in bronchioalveolar fluid (BALF) from mice intratracheally instilled (ITI) with the lunar dust show that the dust is somewhat toxic (more toxic than TiO 2 , but less than quartz dust). More extensive studies have been initiated to further examine BALF and lung tis- sues for histopathological lesions in rodents exposed to lunar dust by ITI and by inhalation. The results of these studies will reveal the toxicological risk of inha- lation exposures to lunar dust and are essential for set- ting exposure limits on airborne lunar dust for astro- nauts living in the lunar habitat. NLSI Lunar Science Conference (2008) 2136.pdf