90-Day Inhalation Toxicity Study of Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids (HEFA) Bio-Based Jet Fuel in Rats (Rattus norvegicus) with Neurotoxicity Testing and Genotoxicity Assay.

摘要

The Department of Defense is actively pursuing the development of alternative fuels to augment or replace petroleum-based jet fuels. All new fuels are potentially hazardous to Air Force personnel and require toxicity evaluation. Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids jet fuel (HEFA) is a type of hydrotreated renewable jet fuel currently under consideration. One specific type of HEFA is generated from oils extracted from the camelina plant (Camelina sativa; HEFA-C). In order to evaluate potential toxicity of HEFA-C, an in vivo 90-day whole body inhalation study was performed with the fuel (concentrations of 0, 200, 700 and 2000 mg/cu m for 6 hours/day, 5 days/week) using male and female Fischer 344 rats. There was no change in food consumption attributed to fuel exposure and the average body weight was found to slightly decrease (not statistically significant) in animals exposed to the high concentration. Micronucleus test was negative for evidence of genotoxicity. No significant effects were observed for clinical chemistry or hematology analyses and no significant neurobehavioral effects were observed based on functional observational battery and motor activity tests. Minimal effects attributable to HEFA-C exposure were observed with histopathology. These effects included goblet cell hyperplasia of nasal epithelium and olfactory epithelium degeneration at the highest concentration of exposure. These two nasal cavity locations were concluded to be the primary target tissues for HEFA-C in this 90- day study; HEFA-C toxicity overall was less than the current jet fuel, JP-8.