[The combined action of octafluoropropane and bipolar ionized air]

An experiment with Wistar male rats was to look into the action of octafluoropropane (OFP, of 50 microg/m(3)) combined with bipolar ionized air (BIA) at a concentration of light air ions of 60,000 para-air in cm(3). The chamber experiment was 43 days long. Intoxication by OFP reduced body mass, as well as the erythrocyte count and hemoglobin level in peripheral blood. As for BIA, it appeared to bring these indices back to their normal values. Erythrocyte metabolism underwent phase-by-phase shifts; but breathing BIA mitigated these shifts markedly. As regards to erythrocyte metabolism in intoxicated animals, BIA had a compensatory effect Changes in the biochemical profile of blood plasma make us think, that BIA counteracts the OFP damaging action on the myocardium and, at the same time, aggravates impairment of metabolism in the liver and, probably, kidney. Variations in the spectrum and total content of higher fatty acids in the lung in the experiment were more pronounced in the event of exposure to OFP+BIA than to OFP alone. Also, the combined exposure increased the level of laurinic acid. Histological investigations of the liver, spleen, myocardium, trachea and the lung attested to the dystrophic damage of the liver, spleen plethora and reticular hyperplasia, and slight cloudy swelling of the myocardium attributed to OFP. After 14 days since the end of the experiment, histological changes were much less dramatic; in 39 days after the experiment all the changes were gone with the exception of weak emphysematosis. BIA had no effect on animals in the absence of OFP; neither was there any significant difference between control (intact) animals and those who breathed BIA in laboratory. To conclude, 50 microg/m(3) of OFP which falls far short of the existing maximum permissible levels, a strong toxic action on animals. Aside from mitigation of the OFP toxic action on erythrocytes and myocardium, BIA, when breathed with a long time, aggravated the metabolic disorders in the liver and lung provoked by OFP.