title: Health assessment of gasoline and fuel oxygenate vapors: reproductive toxicity assessment.
abstract: Vapor condensates of baseline gasoline (BGVC), or gasoline-blended with methyl tertiary butyl ether (G/MTBE), ethyl t-butyl ether (G/ETBE), t-amyl methyl ether (G/TAME), diisopropyl ether (G/DIPE), ethanol (G/EtOH), or t-butyl alcohol (G/TBA) were evaluated for reproductive toxicity in rats at target concentrations of 2000, 10,000, or 20,000mg/m(3), 6h/day, 7days/week. BGVC and G/MTBE were assessed over two generations, the others for one generation. BGVC and G/MTBE F1 offspring were evaluated for neuropathology and changes in regional brain glial fibrillary acidic protein content. No neurotoxicity was observed. Male kidney weight was increased consistent with light hydrocarbon nephropathy. In adult rats, decreased body weight gain and increased liver weight were seen. Spleen weight decreased in adults and pups exposed to G/TBA. No pathological changes to reproductive organs occurred in any study. Decreased food consumption was seen in G/TAME lactating females. Transient decreases in G/TAME offspring weights were observed during lactation. Except for a minor increase in time to mating in G/TBA which did not affect other reproductive parameters, there were no adverse reproductive findings. The NOAEL for reproductive and offspring parameters was 20,000mg/m(3) for all vapor condensates except for lower offspring NOAELs of 10,000mg/m(3) for G/TBA and 2000mg/m(3) for G/TAME.
authors.affiliation: American Petroleum Institute, 20360 Clover Field Terrace, Potomac Falls, VA 20165, United States. Electronic address: tmgray@reagan.com.
authors.forename: Thomas M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Gray
authors.affiliation: Shell Oil Company, One Shell Plaza, 910 Louisiana St., Houston, TX 77002, United States. Electronic address: david.steup@shell.com.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Steup
authors.affiliation: Chevron Energy Technology Company, 6001 Bollinger Canyon Road, San Ramon, CA 94583, United States. Electronic address: LRoberts@chevron.com.
authors.forename: Linda G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.affiliation: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 1095 Willowdale Rd., Morgantown, WV 26505, United States. Electronic address: jdo5@cdc.gov.
authors.forename: James P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: O'Callaghan
authors.affiliation: Huntingdon Life Sciences, Princeton Research Center, 100 Mettlers Road, East Millstone, NJ 08873, United States. Electronic address: hoffmang@princeton.huntingdon.com.
authors.forename: Gary
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hoffman
authors.affiliation: C&C Consulting in Toxicology, 1950 Briarcliff Ave, Meadowbrook, PA 19046, United States. Electronic address: castox@comcast.net.
authors.forename: Ceinwen A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Schreiner
authors.affiliation: Phillips 66, 5901 Woodland Road, Bartlesville, OK 74006, United States. Electronic address: okietox@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Charles R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Clark
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000633:toxicity*; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D005742:Gasoline / Q000633:toxicity*; D001239:Inhalation; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012098:Reproduction / Q000187:drug effects*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D018675:Toxicity Tests
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D005742:Gasoline
keywords: Diisopropyl ether (DIPE); Ethanol (EtOH); Ethyl tert butyl ether (ETBE); Fuel oxygenates; Gasoline vapor condensates; Glial fibrillary acid protein; Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE); Reproductive toxicity; t-Amyl methyl ether (TAME); t-Butyl alcohol (TBA)