Lung and Liver Damage in Mice After Bromobenzene Inhalation: Effects of Enzyme Inducers

Abstract

Mice were pretreated With the enzyme inducers phenobarbital (PB), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) or β-naphthoflavone (BNF), and subsequently exposed to bromoben-zene (BrBz) at 250 and 7000 ppm in inhalation chambers for 4 h. In vivo lung and liver damage were evaluated and compared with results from in vitro covalent binding studies using lung and liver microsomes from mice given the same pretreatments. Reduced lung injury was observed in mice pretreated with PB and PCB compared to controls, whereas BNF pretreatment resulted in decreased liver injury. There were no correlation between the rates of in vitro covalent binding to pulmonary microsomes and the degree of lung injury. However, the slower rate of in vitro binding to liver microsomes compared to controls correlated with the decreased hepatic injury in BNF pretreated mice. An interesting relationship was found in PB- and PCB-pretreated mice between increased rates of covalent binding of bromobenzene to liver microsomes and a decrease in in vivo bromobenzene-induced lung injury