Inhalation Toxicology. 12. Comparison of Toxicity Rankings of Six Polymers byLethality and by Incapacitation in Rats

摘要

Polymeric aircraft cabin materials have the potential to produce toxic gases infires. Lethality (LC50) in animal models is a standard index to rank polymers on the basis of their combustion product toxicity. However, the use of times-to-incapacitation (t sub i s) may be more realistic for predicting relative escape times from a fire environment. Therefore, LC50s and t sub i s for six pure polymers of different chemical classes were determined and compared. The polymers were polyamide (I), polystyrene (II), Nylon 6/6 (III), polysulfone (IV), polyethylene (V) and chlorinated polyethylene (VI). In the study, male Sprague-Dawley rats (150-250 g), 12 animals per fuel loading, were exposed to the pyrolysis products from selected weights of each polymer for 30 min in a 265-L combustion exposure system, and LC50s were determined following a 14-day observation period.