Mahbubeh Abdellahi - Student , Department of Biology, Shahrekord University, Shahrekord, Iran
Sadegh Farhadian - Assistant Professor,Department of Biology, Shahrekord University, Shahrekord, Iran
Behzad Shareghi - Full Profesor, Department of Biology, Shahrekord University, Shahrekord, Iran

Today, rapid industrialization and urbanization have led to numerous human activities that discharge variouspollutants including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) into the environment .PAHs are mainlyderived from anthropogenic activities related to pyrolysis and incomplete combustion of organic matter.Phenanthrene is the simplest non-linear polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, which under certain conditions canlead to tumor, sensitivity (allergy) and autoimmunity, etc. Phenanthrene occurs in fossil fuels and is presentin products of incomplete combustion. Some of the known sources of phenanthrene in the atmosphere arevehicular emissions, coal and oil burning, etc. Elastase is a serine protease produced by the pancreas. Itsprimary role is the breakdown of elastin, a protein that imparts elasticity to connective tissue. In this study,the function and stability of elastase enzyme under the influence of phenanthrene and in fact the effect of thistoxic compound on the human body is done according to the data obtained from spectroscopic methods.During this investigation, the fluorescence emission of elastase was regularly increased by the inclusion ofphenanthrene. As a result, it was found that phenanthrene interacts with elastase and leads to changes in theprotein microenvironment around tryptophan residues.

aromatic hydrocarbons, Phenanthrene, spectroscopic, Elastase