Inhalation Toxicology: X. Times to Incapacitation for Rats Exposed Continuously to Carbon Monoxide, Acrolein, and to Carbon Monoxide-Acrolein Mixtures

Civil Aerospace Medical Institute1990PDFTech ReportCrane, Charles R.Sanders, Donald C.Endecott, Boyd R.Civil Aeromedical InstituteUnited States. Office of Aviation MedicineCivil Aerospace Medical InstituteUnited StatesAir transportation crashesFireSmokeToxicityCarbon monoxidePoisonous gasesLaboratory testsLaboratory animalsRatsAircraft accidentsFireSmoke--Physiological effect--TestingGases, Asphyxiating and poisonous--ToxicologyCarbon monoxideAcroleinRats as laboratory animalsDOT/FAA/AM-90/15Laboratory rats were exposed to experimental atmospheres of (a) carbon monoxide (CO) in air, (b) acrolein in air, and (c) to mixtures of CO and acrolein in air. The toxic potency of each of the three types of environments was evaluated toxicokinetically by measurement of time-to-incapacitation (ti) as a function of toxic gas concentrations. Regression equations were derived that relate the observed ti\u2019s to the concentrations of individual gases. Comparison of the combined-gas-exposure data with results obtained from the individual gas exposures indicated that there was no evidence of synergistic action, i.e., that the effect of the combination was never greater than that predicted by the sum of the two individual gas effects. Evidence did exist for an inhibitory or antagonistic effect of undefined mechanism when acrolein was present in the mixture at concentrations of lesser toxic potency than that of CO. An empirical equation was derived that allows the calculation of a predicted ti for combinations of CO and acrolein concentrations within the ranges utilized in the experimental exposures.119