摘要
近年來，堆肥法廣為利用在處理廚餘廢棄物。然而，在堆肥過程中翻動含有許多微生物的堆肥物，會使生物氣膠散佈在空氣中。若吸入生物氣膠微粒，呼吸道表皮細胞會因生物氣膠微粒所含的內毒素與黴菌毒素造成發炎反應。由於生物氣膠微粒中的孢子可深入呼吸道末稍，因此本研究之目的在於定量廚餘堆肥廠生物氣膠中微生物，以及其對人類呼吸道表皮細胞重塑基因(remodeling genes)之影響。
本研究收集廚餘堆肥廠三月至八月的生物氣膠微粒，分別以培養法和即時定量聚合酶連鎖反應(real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction; real-time PCR)對生物氣膠中Aspergillus fumigatus (A. fumigatus)進行定性與定量分析。另一方面，將人類呼吸道上表皮NCI-H292細胞暴露生物氣膠樣本或A. fumigatus標準菌株，以酵素連結免疫吸附分析法(enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; ELISA)量測發炎前趨激素介白素-6 (interleukin-6; IL-6)分泌量，並以real-time PCR分析重塑基因表現。
研究結果顯示，五月至六月之間堆肥廠中生物氣膠總菌落數最高(4.9□104 CFU/m3)，其中嗜中溫細菌與麴菌的數量最多，A. fumigatus孢子數也達到最高。生物氣膠樣本誘發NCI-H292細胞分泌IL-6同樣在五月至六月最高(平均值□標準差：987□129.4 pg/ml)，並且與麴菌和嗜中溫細菌之數量呈正相關。在重塑基因表現方面，NCI-H292細胞暴露生物氣膠樣本後造成transforming growth factor (TGF)-b1、epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)與cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 1A (p21WAF1/CIP1)表現上調，而matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9表現下降。
總結以上結果發現，堆肥廠生物氣膠造成呼吸道表皮細胞之發炎反應與微生物數量有關，並且影響重塑基因表現。由於呼吸道重塑反應會增加慢性呼吸道疾病之發生，如氣喘或阻塞性肺病等，因此生物氣膠對於堆肥廠工作人員之健康危害值得注意。

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