Inhalation pharmacokinetics based on gas uptake studies. III. A pharmacokinetic assessment in man of "peak concentrations" of vinyl chloride.

On the basis of previous determinations of pharmacokinetic parameters for inhaled vinyl chloride in men, rhesus monkeys, and rats, and on improved pharmacokinetic models a pharmacokinetic treatment of the problem of "peak concentrations" of vinyl chloride, as occurring in industrial practice, became possible. For the calculations, metabolic elimination kinetics of vinyl chloride was assumed to be first order as experiments in different species including rhesus monkeys showed "linear" pharmacokinetics up to atmospheric exposures of 200-300 ppm. The distribution of vinyl chloride between atmosphere and organism under different conditions was evaluated using "'steady-state-kinetics". After treating the processes of "influx", "efflux", and "metabolism", the numerical values for the parameters derived from a human kinetic experiment were used to theoretically calculate the time courses of concentration of vinyl chloride in the organism and of the cumulative amount of vinyl chloride metabolized, under the conditions of (a) a 2h constant exposure to 5 ppm vinyl chloride and (b) two subsequent "peaks" of 50 ppm with a duration of 5 min each. This model calculation suggested that, regardless of the exposure profile, the amount of (reactive) metabolites formed from vinyl chloride would solely be a function of the mean atmospheric vinyl chloride concentration over time. The general validity of this suggested rule could subsequently be demonstrated. As the concentration of the reactive metabolite of vinyl chloride responsible for the carcinogenic effect at the target site must be a resultant of both formation and inactivation, an evaluation of the differential risk of different exposure profiles can reasonably be based on biochemical examinations of the "detoxifying" pathways. This points out the relevance of studies of the patterns of different metabolites of vinyl chloride in man under varying exposure profiles.