Comparative study of ozone (O3) uptake in three strains of rats and in the guinea pig

Ozone uptake was assessed in awake, spontaneously breathing Fischer-344 Sprague-Dawley, and Long-Evans rats and Hartley guinea pigs to provide data on the dosimetry of O3 in small laboratory animals. This information is needed for extrapolation of O3 toxicity data from experimental animals to man. Breathing measurements and O3 exposure data were obtained using a head-out body plethysmograph connected to a nose-only exposure system. The fractional uptake of O3 was computed by measuring flow and O3 concentration both upstream and downstream from the nose. The quantity of O3 removed by the animal, O2 consumption, CO2 production, and tidal breathing measurements were automatically recorded once each minute. All animal types were exposed for 1 hr to 0.3 ppm O3. Other Fischer-344 rats were also exposed for 1 hr to 0.0 or to 0.6 ppm O3. Exposure concentrations of O3 had no significant effect on percentage O3 uptake in Fischer-344 rats. Results showed that percentage O3 uptake (47%) did not differ significantly among the three strains of rats nor between the rats and the guinea pigs. Similarly, percentage O3 uptake was independent of animal age, lung weight, and lung volume as well as normal variations encountered in the resting breathing measures. However, species-specific ventilation and O3 concentration were the primary determinants of the accumulated lung dose of O3 during the exposures.