Nasal tumours in rats after severe injury to the nasal mucosa and prolonged exposure to 10 ppm formaldehyde.

To study the significance of damage to the nasal mucosa for the induction of nasal tumours by formaldehyde in rats, a long-term inhalation study was conducted in which male rats with severely damaged or undamaged nose were exposed 6 h/day for 5 days/week to 0, 0.1, 1.0 or 10 ppm formaldehyde vapour for 28 months, or for 3 months followed by a 25-month observation period. The damage to the nasal mucosa was induced by bilateral intranasal electrocoagulation. The total number of rats used was 720, 480 with damaged and 240 with intact nose. Compound-related degenerative, inflammatory and hyperplastic changes of the nasal respiratory and olfactory mucosa were invariably observed when rats with intact nose were exposed to 10 ppm but not when exposed to 1.0 or 0.1 ppm formaldehyde. Nasal electrocoagulation increased the incidences of formaldehyde-induced rhinitis, hyper- and metaplasia of the respiratory epithelium, and degeneration and hyper- and metaplasia of the olfactory epithelium. In addition, exposure to 10 ppm formaldehyde for 28 months produced nasal squamous cell carcinomas in rats with damaged nose (15/58) but not in rats with intact nose. Three months of exposure to 10 ppm formaldehyde or exposure to 0.1 or 1.0 ppm formaldehyde for 28 months had no such effect. It was concluded that severe damage to the nasal mucosa may contribute to the induction of nasal tumours by formaldehyde.