title: Respiratory and metabolic response of rats and mice to formalin vapor.
abstract: The irritant effect of repeated inhalation exposure to vapors of aqueous formalin (formaldehyde concentration, 15 ppm) in male Charles River CD rats and male C57BL6/F1 mice was determined. The data suggest that rats are relatively insensitive to this irritant while mice are substantially more sensitive, the latter showing a comparable reduction in tidal volume, but a greater decrease in respiratory rate and, as a consequence, minute volume. CO2 production, a reflection of total metabolism, as well as body temperature, were decreased to a greater extent in mice than in rats. The decreased minute ventilation and associated decrease in temperature, responses occurring to a greater extent in the mouse, may decrease both the net formaldehyde dose as well as the toxic actions of formaldehyde that are dependent on systemic metabolic activity.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000378:metabolism; D005557:Formaldehyde / Q000633:toxicity*; D005740:Gases; D008297:Male; D008660:Metabolism / Q000187:drug effects*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D051381:Rats; D012119:Respiration / Q000187:drug effects*; D012149:Restraint, Physical; D013045:Species Specificity; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D005740:Gases; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D005557:Formaldehyde