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Two‐Year Inhalation Toxicity Study of Petroleum Coke in Rats and Monkeys
Author(s) -
Klonne Dennis R.,
Burns John M.,
Halder Clive A.,
Holdsworth Charles E.,
Ulrich Charles E.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/ajim.4700110312
Subject(s) - medicine , inhalation , lung , histopathology , physiology , pathology , pulmonary toxicity , toxicity , pulmonary fibrosis , anesthesia
Sprague‐Dawley rats and Cynomolgus monkeys were exposed to dust aerosol concentrations (0, 10.2, and 30.7 mg/m 3 ) of micronized delayed process petroleum coke for 6 hr/day, 5 days/week over 2 years. With the exception of pulmonary effects, particularly in the rats, no significant adverse treatment‐related effects were observed. Both dust‐exposed groups of both species exhibited a gray to black discoloration of the lung, an observation consistent with pulmonary deposition of the coke dust, as well as increased absolute and/or relative lung weight values. The pulmonary histopathology in the monkeys was limited to the deposition and phagocytosis of the test material by pulmonary macrophages. The rats also exhibited these responses, but with concomitant signs of chronic inflammation and focal areas of fibrosis, bronchiolization, sclerosis, squamous alveolar metaplasia, and keratin cyst formation. No difference in the mortality rate was observed between the control and exposed groups of rats. Lastly, no significant increases in chromosomal aberrations were observed in rodents of the 10.2 or 30.7 mg/m 3 exposure groups when examined after 5 days, 12 months, and 22 months of exposure.