Lung toxicity after 13-week inhalation exposure to nickel oxide, nickel subsulfide, or nickel sulfate hexahydrate in F344/N rats and B6C3F1 mice.

The relative toxicity of nickel oxide (NiO), nickel sulfate hexahydrate (NiSO4.6H2O), and nickel subsulfide (Ni3S2) was studied in F344/N rats and B6C3F1 mice after inhalation exposure for 6 hr/day, 5 days/week, for 13 weeks. Exposure concentrations used (as mg Ni/m3) were 0.4-7.9 for NiO, 0.02-0.4 for NiSO4.6H2O, and 0.11-1.8 for Ni3S2. No exposure-related effects on mortality and only minor effects on body weight gain were seen in rats or mice. The most sensitive parameter for nickel toxicity was histopathologic change in the lungs of exposed animals were chronic active inflammation, fibrosis, and alveolar macrophage hyperplasia were associated with nickel exposure. There was an exposure-related increase in lung weight in rats and mice. Equilibrium levels of nickel in the lung were reached by 13 weeks of nickel sulfate and nickel subsulfide exposure, whereas lung levels of nickel continued to increase throughout exposure to nickel oxide. Additional exposure-related histopathologic lesions in treated animals included atrophy of the olfactory epithelium after nickel sulfate and nickel subsulfide exposure. No nasal lesions were seen after nickel oxide exposure. Lymphoid hyperplasia of the bronchial lymph nodes developed in animals exposed to all three nickel compounds. The order of toxicity corresponded to the water solubility of the nickel compounds, with nickel sulfate being most toxic, followed by nickel subsulfide and nickel oxide.