Effects of Exercise Following Exposure to Perfluoroisobutylene

Abstract

Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland of Chemical Defense, Perfluoroisobutylene (PFIB) is a toxic chemical encountered in industry as a pyrolysis product of tetrafluoroethylene polymers, such as Teflon. Inhalation of toxic doses of PFlB results in varying degrees of pulmonary edema. The purpose of this study was to determine if exhaustive exercise would potentiate the toxic effects of PFIB. One group of treadmill-acclimated rats was exercised to exhaustion following a l h n i n wholebody exposure to PFIB (approximately 0.75 x LCt50). A second group was similarly exposed but not exercised. Two other groups of rats were sham exposed; one was exercised while one remained sedentary following the sham exposure. Twenty-four hours after exposure, the animals were sacrificed; the lungs were removed and weighed, and a portion was collected for histopathologic examination. The remaining lung tissue was allowed to dry to constant weight. There was a significant increase in the amount of pulmonary edema and associated pulmonary pathology in rats exercised following exposure to PFIB. Exposure to this concentration of PFIB caused no decrement in immediate postexposure endurance. The degree of pulmonary pathology in all rats exposed to PFIB was profound.

Mild, Safe, and Versatile Reagents for (CF2)n Transfer and the Construction of Fluoroalkyl-Containing Rings

“…Such routes are problematic for discovery research today as TFE has become increasingly unavailable for purchase due to the explosion hazards associated with its handing. − TFE can be prepared inexpensively on a reasonable scale from the thermal pyrolysis of waste polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), − but such routes typically involve temperatures above 600 °C and the use of a quartz furnace connected to a vacuum manifold. Moreover, the pyrolysis route does not eliminate the detonation hazards accompanying the recondensed TFE or the problems associated with the acute toxicity of octofluoroisobutylene, − which can be formed as a byproduct in the thermal degradation of PTFE. ,, Other methods exist to generate TFE more expensively on a small scale, , but require gas handling techniques that can complicate experimental protocols.…”