Approach to estimation of absorption of aliphatic hydrocarbons diffusing from interior materials in an automobile cabin by inhalation toxicokinetic analysis in rats.

The interior air of an automobile cabin has been demonstrated in our previous studies to be contaminated by high concentrations of a large variety of aliphatic hydrocarbons diffusing from the interior materials. In the present study, the amounts of seven selected aliphatic hydrocarbons absorbed by the car driver were estimated by evaluating their inhalation toxicokinetics in rats. Measured amounts of the substances were injected into a closed chamber system in which a rat had been placed, and the concentration changes in the chamber were examined. The toxicokinetics of the substances were evaluated based on concentration-time courses using a nonlinear compartment model. Their absorption amounts in humans at the levels of actual concentrations in the cabins without ventilation were extrapolated from the results found with the rats. The absorption amounts estimated for a driver during a 2 h drive were as follows: 6 microg/60 kg of human body weight for methylcyclopentane (interior concentration 23 microg/m(3) as median value in previous study), 5 microg for 2-methylpentane (36 microg/m(3)), 13 microg for n-hexane (65 microg/m(3)), 51 microg for n-heptane (150 microg/m(3)), 26 microg for 2,4-dimethylheptane (97 microg/m(3)), 17 microg for n-nonane (25 microg/m(3)) and 49 microg for n-decane (68 microg/m(3)). An inverse relationship was found between the exposure and absorption among the substances (e.g. between n-decane and 2,4-dimethylheptane). These findings suggest that not only the exposure concentrations but also the absorption amounts should be taken into account to evaluate the health effects of exposure to low concentrations of volatile compounds as environmental contaminants.