[Effects of sex difference on the toxicity of ethylene oxide. IV. Anemia].

Wistar male and female rats were exposed to ethylene oxide (EO) at a concentration of 250 ppm, 6 hours a day, 5 days a week for 17 weeks simultaneously, and the sex difference of anemia induced by EO was investigated. Hemoglobin concentrations of both the male and female exposed groups were decreased when compared with each control group, and the anemia in the female exposed group was more severe than that in the male exposed group. Absolute spleen weight increased only in the female exposed group. We have already reported that a decrease of the glutathione reductase activity in the erythrocyte plays an important role in the EO-induced anemia. In the present study, the activity in both male and female exposed groups decreased when compared with each control group, and there was no sex difference in the degree of the decrease. From these observations, we concluded that there was a sex difference in the EO-induced anemia.