A contribution to the toxicological evaluation of hexamethylenetetramine

Abstract

Hexarnethylenetetramine (Hexa) has been studied in a long-term trial in which rats were fed on a diet containing 0·16% Hexa from weaning to natural death. The voluntary muscular activity, body-weight curves, lifespan, causes of death and the relative weights of major organs were compared with those of rats fed the same diet without added Hexa. No differences between the test groups and the control groups could be detected. In a palatability experiment, rats were allowed to choose between food containing Hexa and the same food without Hexa for a 28-day period. The two types of food were consumed in comparable amounts. After a 120-day period during which they were fed only the Hexa diet, all the rats were allowed to choose between the two diets in a second 28-day trial. Again the rats revealed no dislike of the Hexa diet. The fertility of the Hexa-treated rats was similar to that of the controls, and the young of the second generation, fed like their parents on the Hexa diet, did not differ from the offspring of the control rats with regard to voluntary muscular activity, body weights, general health and relative organ weights.