A VERSATILE GAS UPTAKE INHALATION SYSTEM USED IN PHARMACOKINETIC AND METABOLIC STUDIES OF VOLATILE ORGANIC-COMPOUNDS

This paper describes an automated gas uptake system for pharmacokineti c research with volatile organic compounds, designed to operate within the parameters maintained during conventional whole-body inhalation e xposures according to the Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) guidelines, Benefits are twofold: (1) to ensure that animals are tested under the same widely accepted guidelines, and (2) to minimize the number of ani mals required to perform a study, by allowing direct comparison of res ults from gas uptake studies with results from other inhalation toxico logy studies and use of animals from gas uptake experiments for postex posure toxicological testing, Other features implemented in the chambe r design improve the ease of use and productivity of the system, These include provisions to adapt the apparatus for use in different pharma cokinetic experimental protocols, automation of data acquisition and o xygen control during exposures, and automated calculation of exposure summary statistics and graphics using a spreadsheet program, The autom ation system reduces the labor hours required to perform a gas uptake experiment by approximately one-half.