Benzene is a well-known human carcinogen that is one of the major components of air pollution. Sources of benzene in ambient air include cigarette smoke, e-cigarettes vaping, and evaporation of benzene containing petrol processes. While the carcinogenic effects of benzene exposure have been well studied, less is known about the metabolic effects of benzene exposure. We show that chronic exposure to benzene at low levels induces a severe metabolic imbalance in a sex-specific manner, and is associated with hypothalamic inflammation and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. Benzene exposure rapidly activates hypothalamic ER stress and neuroinflammatory responses in male mice, while pharmacological inhibition of ER stress response by inhibiting IRE1α-XBP1 pathway significantly alleviates benzene-induced glial inflammatory responses. Additionally, feeding mice with Acarbose, a clinically available anti-diabetes drug, protected against benzene induced central and peripheral metabolic imbalance. Acarbose imitates the slowing of dietary carbohydrate digestion, suggesting that choosing a diet with a low glycemic index might be a potential strategy for reducing the negative metabolic effect of chronic exposure to benzene for smokers or people living/working in urban environments with high concentrations of exposure to automobile exhausts.

中文翻译：

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阿卡波糖可防止暴露于苯引起的中枢和外周代谢失衡

苯是众所周知的人类致癌物，是空气污染的主要成分之一。环境空气中苯的来源包括香烟烟雾、电子烟和含苯汽油过程的蒸发。虽然苯暴露的致癌作用已得到充分研究，但对苯暴露的代谢影响知之甚少。我们表明，长期接触低水平的苯会以性别特异性方式引起严重的代谢失衡，并且与下丘脑炎症和内质网 (ER) 应激有关。苯暴露会迅速激活雄性小鼠的下丘脑内质网应激反应和神经炎症反应，而通过抑制 IRE1α-XBP1 通路来抑制内质网应激反应的药理作用可显着减轻苯诱导的神经胶质炎症反应。此外，用临床可用的抗糖尿病药物阿卡波糖喂养小鼠，防止苯引起的中枢和外周代谢失衡。阿卡波糖模仿膳食碳水化合物消化的减慢，表明选择低血糖指数的饮食可能是减少吸烟者或生活/工作在城市环境中高浓度接触苯的人长期接触苯的负面代谢影响的潜在策略到汽车尾气。