[Examination of dynamic changes of certain biochemical parameters in blood of rats poisoned with sodium nitrite].

In Wistar rats poisoned by daily addition of sodium nitrite to drinking water (1 g/dm3), determination was made of the dynamics of changes in: blood methemoglobin and 2,3-diphosphoglyceric acid levels, contents of protein and non-protein thiol groups in erythrocytes, blood glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and peroxide dismutase activities, as well as plasma vitamin E and hydroxyproline levels, Determinations were performed after 15, 30, 45, 60, 75 and 90 days of poisoning. There occurred a linear relationship between the drop in glucose-6-phosphatase dehydrogenase activity and in vitamin E level, on one hand, and the duration of poisoning with sodium nitrite. Moreover, a significant rise of 2,3-diphosphoglyceric acid level in erythrocytes and a decrease in the non-protein thiol groups took place. Rhe results indicated that the determinations--in blood--of: methemoglobin, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity in erythrocytes, and vitamin E in plasma or serum, could be included among the diagnostic tests performed (at the laboratories attached to industrial plants or making part of the industrial health service) for evaluation of the health hazard in the nitro-compound industry or in other nitrite contaminated working places.