A preliminary study at the institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques (INERIS) examined the dissolution of three man-made vitreous fiber samples (glasswool, rockwool, glass microfibers: JM 100) after intraperitoneal injections in male Wistar rats. The chemical composition of the original fibers was determined by inductively coupled plasma spectrometry (ICP). The urine of the rats was collected at fixed times between day 1 and day 204, and the ICP was used to look for elements known to be present in the original fibers. At day 204, a piece of omentum was removed at autopsy, ashed and analyzed by energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDXA) to identify the elements remaining in the fibers. Silicon and aluminium were retained in the fibers from all samples at day 204. Losses in calcium, sodium, magnesium, and sulfur were observed, but these elements were not studied in the urine samples because they are naturally present in relatively high concentrations in rat cells and biological fluids. Although there was a loss of zinc from the glass microfibers, no corresponding difference was observed between the zinc levels excreted by the treated animals and by the controls. Similarly, despite the loss of manganese from the rockwool fibers at day 204, none was detectable in the urine samples. Titanium, present at the 0.3% level in rockwool, was not detectable by EDXA at day 204, but small quantities were detected in the first 2 weeks in the urine samples of rats treated with rockwool.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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