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Research Reports

HEI’s mission is to provide credible science to support environmental regulations and other policy decisions. The results of each HEI-funded project undergo peer-review by outside scientists and the Health Review Committee. The HEI Research Reports contain the Investigator’s Report and the Review Committee’s evaluation of the study, summarized in a Commentary or short Critique.

ISSN 1041-5505 (print)        ISSN 2688-6855 (online) 

Research Report 74
Gary M Pollack
Kim LR Brouwer
1996

Drs. Pollack and Brouwer at the University of North Carolina determined the relationship between methanol exposure and its uptake into and elimination from the blood of nonpregnant and pregnant rodents. The investigators exposed rats and mice at several different stages of gestation to methanol intravenously or orally (doses ranged from 100 mg/kg of body weight to 2,500 mg/kg) or by inhalation (1,000 to 20,000 ppm for 8 hours). They measured blood, urine, and amniotic fluid concentrations of methanol and used the data to develop a model of methanol distribution in rodents.

Research Report 73
Bernard Weiss
Sander Stern
Sidney C Soderholm
Christopher Cox
Archana Sharma
Geoffrey B Inglis
Ray Preston
Marlene Balys
Kenneth R Reuhl
Robert Gelein
1996

Dr. Weiss and his colleagues at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry examined the effects of prenatal and early postnatal inhalation of methanol on selected measures of neurobehavior in rats. The investigators conducted a controlled series of experiments in which they exposed pregnant rats and their newborn offspring to 4,500 parts per million (ppm) methanol by inhalation, and then submitted them to tests of behavioral function.

Research Report 68-III
Steven A Belinsky
Charles E Mitchell
Kristen J Nikula
Deborah S Swafford
1995

In Part III of this study, Dr. Belinsky and his associates at the Lovelace Biomedical and Environmental Research Institute examined lung tumors from rats that had inhaled high concentrations of diesel engine exhaust or carbon black particles (see Part I by Dr. Joe Mauderly). The investigators applied molecular biology techniques to measure mutations in selected genes in the DNA from the tumors.

Research Report 68-II
Kurt Randerath
Kim L Putnam
Joe L Mauderly
Paige L Williams
Erika Randerath
1995

Dr. Randerath's study was part of a large cancer bioassay conducted by Dr. Joe Mauderly and colleagues of the Inhalation Toxicology Research Institute (ITRI). The investigators exposed F344/N rats by inhalation to clean (filtered) air or to one of two concentrations of either diesel exhaust or carbon (2.5 or 6.5 mg of particles/m3 of test atmosphere). Both Dr. Randerath and Dr. Mauderly measured DNA adducts in lung tissue samples from rats exposed at ITRI for different periods of time to the test atmospheres. Dr.

Research Report 72
Frederick A Beland
1995

Dr. Beland and his associates at the University of Arkansas School of Medical Sciences developed an assay to measure mutations induced by dinitropyrenes, a class of diesel engine exhaust, in rats. The investigators analyzed the mutations in a selected gene in spleen T lymphocytes from rats treated with 1,6-dinitropyrene under conditions that induced lung tumors at the highest dose tested. They also examined DNA adduct levels in lung and liver tissues and in spleen lymphocytes and white blood cells.

Research Report 71
George D Leikauf
Qiyu Zhao
Shaoying Zhou
Jeffrey Santrock
1995

Dr. Leikauf and colleagues at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center examined the potential of the secondary products produced from the reaction of ozone with the fluids and the cell membrane of airway epithelial cells to cause biochemical effects. The investigators prepared aldehydes and hydroxyhydroperoxides of different carbon chain lengths. They tested these compounds and hydrogen peroxide in cultures of human airway epithelial cells grown from tissue explants.