Groups of Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed, by inhalation, to n-hexane (900 ppm, 3,240 mg/m3), xylene (600 ppm, 2,625 mg/m3), methyl ethyl ketone (800 ppm, 2,345 mg/m3) and methylchloroform (800 ppm, 4,345 mg/m3) for four weeks. Increased liver weights and liver to body weight ratios were observed for all the solvents except n-hexane. An increased in vitro formation of certain metabolites of all the investigated substrates was found only in the rats exposed to xylene. The in vitro microsomal metabolism of biphenyl, benzo(a)pyrene, 4-androstene-3,17-dione and 4 alpha-androstane-3 alpha, 17 beta-diol in combination with sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed that n-hexane was without effect on rat liver microsomal cytochrome P-450 and that methyl ethyl ketone and methylchloroform depressed the formation of two metabolites of androstenedione but did not alter the concentration of cytochrome P-450 under the experimental conditions used. Xylene was shown to be a phenobarbital-like inducer of rat liver microsomal cytochrome P-450.

Key terms benzo(a)pyrene metabololism; enzymatic activity; induction; inhalation; methyl ethyl ketone; methylchloroform; microsomal cytochrome P-450; n-hexane; organic solvent; rat; rat liver; rat liver microsomal cytochrome P-450; steroid metabolism; xylene