| Abstract
| - Effects of Fly Ash and its Constituents on Sensory Irritation in Mice. Hatch, G.E., Boykin, E., Miller, F.J. and Graham, J.A. (1982). Fundam. Appl. Toxicol. 2:77-81. Sensory irritation caused by fly ash from oil-fired (OF), fluidized bed coal (FB) combustion and conventional coal (CC) combustion power plants, and from Mt. St. Helens volcano (VA) was studied in mice. The irritating sensation due to contact with fly ash or its constituents was quantitated by observing a characteristic flexing of the dorsal musculature of the mouse following intraperitoneal injection of the ash suspension. Construction of dose-effect curves was based on the percentage of animals showing a positive response at each ash concentration. The order of irritant potency of fly ash samples was as follows: OF and OF leachate ≫ FB > CC > VA. Saline leachates of ash samples other than OF fly ash showed no irritating effects. OF fly ash was about 160×more irritating than VA and 5× more irritating than the reference detergent compound, sodium dodecyl sulfate. Study of chemicals known to be present in fly ash or chemicals similar to those present indicated that acidic or basic compounds, heavy metal ions and metal oxides, and insoluble particles could all contribute to the irritancy of an ash. Soluble heavy metals appeared to be mainly responsible for the irritant effects of OF ash, while insoluble particles including metal oxides could have accounted for the irritancy of the other fly ash samples studied. Comparison of data from the peritoneal irritation test used here with previously published data from the upper respiratory tract irritation test of Alarie confirmed the previously noted correlation between these two tests for chemicals in solution.
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