Response of Guinea Pigs to a Combination of Sulfur Dioxide and Open Hearth Dust

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Abstract
Measurement of alterations in the mechanical behavior of the lungs of guinea pigs may be used to assess the irritant potency of air pollutants. By examining the response to an irritant gas alone and in the presence of a known amount of particulate material it is possible to determine whether or not the particulate material has caused a potentiation of the response. This technique has been used to examine the effect of re-dispersed open-hearth dust on the response to sulfur dioxide. The open-hearth dust used was material obtained from electrostatic precipitators. The system used for re-dispersal of this material will be described. The open-hearth dust alone produced no detectable respiratory response even when used at a concentration as high as 7 mg/m3. It was also without effect on the response to several levels of sulfur dioxide. The findings were similar for an aerosol of iron oxide. This is in contrast to soluble iron salts which do potentiate the response to sulfur dioxide. These contrasting findings suggest that the potentiation of sulfur dioxide is mediated by solubility in a droplet followed by catalytic oxidation to sulfuric acid.

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