Chronic Toxicity and Three-Generation Reproduction Study of Styrene Monomer in the Drinking Water of Rats

Abstract

Chronic Toxicity and Three-Generation Reproduction Study of Styrene Monomer in the Drinking Water of Rats. BELILES, R. P., BUTALA, J. H., STACK, C. R., AND MAKRIS, S. (1985). Fundam. Appl. Toxicol.. 5,855-868. Chronic toxicity and reproductive performance were evaluated in groups of rats receiving styrene monomer in their drinking water at nominal concentrations of 0, 125, or 250 ppm. Fifty male and 70 female rats in each test group and 76 males and 104 females in the control group were placed on a 2-year study and followed for observations of general health which included measurement of body weight, food and water consumption, hemograms, clinical chemistries, urinalysis, and histopathological examination. Ten males and 20 females from each group in the study were mated to produce F1 pups. These pups were subsequently mated to produce three generations of offspring, all maintained on styrene-treated drinking water. For each generation, the following were evaluated: fertility, litter size, pup viability, pup survival, sex ratio, pup body weight, weanling liver and kidney weight, and marrow cytogenetics. Except for a statistically significant reduction in water consumption for styrene-treated rats, no treatment-related changes, including mortality patterns, were reported for animals in the chronic study. The data evaluated for reproductive performance also showed no evidence of styrene-related changes. It was concluded that the administration of styrene in the drinking water of rats for 2 years produced no deleterious dose-related effects or decrements in reproductive performance.