Nonlinearity and thresholds in dose-response relationships for carcinogenicity due to sampling variation, logarithmic dose scaling, or small differences in individual susceptibility.

Nonlinear and threshold-like shapes of dose-response curves are often observed in tests for carcinogenicity. Here, we present three examples where an apparent threshold is spurious and can be misleading for low dose extrapolation and human cancer risk assessment. Case #1: For experiments that are not replicated, such as rodent bioassays for carcinogenicity, random variation can lead to misinterpretation of the result. This situation was simulated by 20 random binomial samplings of 50 animals per group, assuming a true linear dose response from 5% to 25% tumor incidence at arbitrary dose levels 0, 0.5, 1, 2, and 4. Linearity was suggested only by 8 of the 20 simulations. Four simulations did not reveal the carcinogenicity at all. Three exhibited thresholds, two showed a nonmonotonic behavior with a decrease at low dose, followed by a significant increase at high dose ("hormesis"). Case #2: Logarithmic representation of the dose axis transforms a straight line into a sublinear (up-bent) curve, which can be misinterpreted to indicate a threshold. This is most pronounced if the dose scale includes a wide low dose range. Linear regression of net tumor incidences and intersection with the dose axis results in an apparent threshold, even with an underlying true linear dose-incidence relationship. Case #3: Nonlinear shapes of dose-cancer incidence curves are rarely seen with epidemiological data in humans. The discrepancy to data in rodents may in part be explained by a wider span of individual susceptibilities for tumor induction in humans due to more diverse genetic background and modulation by co-carcinogenic lifestyle factors. Linear extrapolation of a human cancer risk could therefore be appropriate even if animal bioassays show nonlinearity.

Dose response for formaldehyde-induced cytotoxicity in the human respiratory tract.

Human studies of the sensory irritant effects of formaldehyde are complicated by the subjective nature of some clinical endpoints. This limits the usefulness of such studies for quantitative noncancer risk assessment of airborne formaldehyde. Objective measures of the noncancer effects of formaldehyde, such as the rate of regenerative cellular proliferation (RCP) secondary to cytolethality, can be obtained from laboratory animals but present the challenge of interspecies extrapolation of the data. To the extent that uncertainties associated with this extrapolation can be reduced, however, dose-response data obtained in laboratory animals are a viable alternative to clinical studies. Here, we describe the extrapolation of dose-response data for RCP from F344 rats to humans. Rats inhaled formaldehyde (0, 0.7, 2.0, 6.0, 10, and 15 ppm) 6 h/day, 5 days/week for up to 2 years. The dose response for RCP was J-shaped, with the rates of RCP at 0.7 and 2.0 ppm below but not statistically different from control, while the rates at the higher concentrations were significantly greater than control. Both the raw J-shaped data and a hockey-stick-shaped curve fitted to the raw data were used for predicting the human dose response for RCP. Cells lining the nasal airways of F344 rats and rhesus monkeys are comparably sensitive to the cytolethal effects of inhaled formaldehyde, suggesting that the equivalent human cells are also likely to be comparably sensitive. Using this assumption, the challenge of rat-to-human extrapolation was reduced to accurate prediction of site-specific flux of formaldehyde from inhaled air into the tissue lining the human respiratory tract. A computational fluid dynamics model of air flow and gas transport in the human nasal airways was linked to a typical path model of the human lung to provide site-specific flux predictions throughout the respiratory tract. Since breathing rate affects formaldehyde dosimetry, cytotoxicity dose-response curves were predicted for three standard working levels. With the most vigorous working level, the lowest concentrations of formaldehyde predicted to exert any cytotoxic effects in humans were 1.0 and 0.6 ppm, for the J-shaped and hockey-stick-shaped RCP curves, respectively. The predicted levels of response at the lowest effect concentrations are smaller than can be measured clinically. Published literature showing that the cytotoxicity of inhaled formaldehyde is related to exposure level rather than to duration of exposure suggests that the present analysis is a reasonable basis for derivation of standards for continuous human exposure.

Dosimetry modeling of inhaled formaldehyde: binning nasal flux predictions for quantitative risk assessment.

Interspecies extrapolations of tissue dose and tumor response have been a significant source of uncertainty in formaldehyde cancer risk assessment. The ability to account for species-specific variation of dose within the nasal passages would reduce this uncertainty. Three-dimensional, anatomically realistic, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models of nasal airflow and formaldehyde gas transport in the F344 rat, rhesus monkey, and human were used to predict local patterns of wall mass flux (pmol/[mm(2)-h-ppm]). The nasal surface of each species was partitioned by flux into smaller regions (flux bins), each characterized by surface area and an average flux value. Rat and monkey flux bins were predicted for steady-state inspiratory airflow rates corresponding to the estimated minute volume for each species. Human flux bins were predicted for steady-state inspiratory airflow at 7.4, 15, 18, 25.8, 31.8, and 37 l/min and were extrapolated to 46 and 50 l/min. Flux values higher than half the maximum flux value (flux median) were predicted for nearly 20% of human nasal surfaces at 15 l/min, whereas only 5% of rat and less than 1% of monkey nasal surfaces were associated with fluxes higher than flux medians at 0.576 l/min and 4.8 l/min, respectively. Human nasal flux patterns shifted distally and uptake percentage decreased as inspiratory flow rate increased. Flux binning captures anatomical effects on flux and is thereby a basis for describing the effects of anatomy and airflow on local tissue disposition and distributions of tissue response. Formaldehyde risk models that incorporate flux binning derived from anatomically realistic CFD models will have significantly reduced uncertainty compared with risk estimates based on default methods.

Biologically motivated quantitative models and the mixture toxicity problem.

The article highlighted in this issue is "A PBPK Modeling-Based Approach to Account for Interactions in the Health Risk Assessment of Chemical Mixtures" by Sami Haddad, Martin Béliveau, Robert Tardif, and Kannan Krishnan (pp. 125-131).

A clonal growth model: time-course simulations of liver foci growth following penta- or hexachlorobenzene treatment in a medium-term bioassay.

A combination of experimental and simulation approaches were used to analyze the clonal growth of preneoplastic, enzyme-altered foci during liver carcinogenesis in an initiation-promotion regimen. Male Fisher 344 rats, 8 weeks of age, were initiated with a single dose (200 mg/kg, i.p.) of diethylnitrosamine (DEN). Beginning 2 weeks later, animals were exposed to daily gavage consisting of 0.1 mmol/kg pentachlorobenzene (PECB) or hexachlorobenzene (HCB) in corn oil vehicle for 6 weeks. Partial hepatectomy was performed 3 weeks after initiation. Experimental data including liver weight, hepatocyte density (number of hepatocytes/unit volume), 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine-labeling index for analysis of cell division rate, and number and volume of glutathione-S-transferase pi-positive foci were collected 23, 26, 28, 47, or 56 days after initiation. Model parameters describing liver growth were obtained directly from the experimental data. The probability of mutation/division of normal cells and the growth rate of initiated cells were inferred by a comparison of model outcomes with the observed time courses of foci development. To describe the time-dependent increases in foci volume and the concomitant reduction of foci number observed in all treatment groups, the calibrated model for the DEN controls incorporated the hypothesis of two initiated cell populations (referred to as A and B cells) within the framework of the two-stage model. The B cells are initiated cells that have a selective growth advantage under conditions that inhibit the growth of A cells and normal hepatocytes. The parameter values defined in the DEN controls were used to evaluate experiments involving the administration of PECB or HCB. Both PECB and HCB caused a significant increase in foci volume compared with the DEN controls. HCB treatments resulted in increased proliferation of normal hepatocytes, which was not observed for PECB under the same treatment regimen. The best description of the data resulted from the model incorporating the hypothesis that PECB and HCB promoted the growth of foci via increased net growth rates of B cells. We present here a biologically based clonal growth simulation platform to describe the growth of preneoplastic foci under experimental manipulations of initiation-promotion studies. This simulation work is an example of quantitative approaches that could be useful for the analysis of other initiation-promotion studies.

Simulation modeling of the tissue disposition of formaldehyde to predict nasal DNA-protein cross-links in Fischer 344 rats, rhesus monkeys, and humans.

Formaldehyde inhalation causes formation of DNA-protein cross-links (DPX) in the nasal mucosa of Fischer 344 (F344) rats and rhesus monkeys. DPX are considered to be part of the mechanism by which cytotoxic and carcinogenic effects of formaldehyde in laboratory animals are exerted, and DPX data have been used as a measure of tissue dose in cancer risk assessments for formaldehyde. Accurate prediction of DPX concentrations in humans is therefore desirable. The goal of this work was to increase confidence in the prediction of human DPX by refining earlier models of formaldehyde disposition and DPX kinetics in the nasal mucosa. Anatomically accurate, computational fluid dynamics models of the nasal airways of F344 rats, rhesus monkeys, and humans were used to predict the regional flux of formaldehyde to the respiratory and olfactory mucosa. A previously developed model of the tissue disposition of formaldehyde and of DPX kinetics was implemented in the graphical simulation tool SIMULINK and linked to the regional flux predictions. Statistical optimization was used to identify parameter values, and good simulations of the data were obtained. The parameter estimates for rats and monkeys were used to guide allometric scale-up to the human case. The relative levels of nasal mucosal DPX in rats, rhesus monkeys, and humans for a given inhaled concentration of formaldehyde were predicted by the model to vary with concentration. This modeling approach reduces uncertainty in the prediction of human nasal mucosal DPX resulting from formaldehyde inhalation.

A physiologically based pharmacodynamic analysis of hepatic foci within a medium-term liver bioassay using pentachlorobenzene as a promoter and diethylnitrosamine as an initiator.

A stochastic clonal growth model for describing quantitative changes in size and number of putative preneoplastic lesions was modified to analyze the time-course information of cell proliferation and glutathione S-transferase pi (GST-P) foci within a medium-term bioassay. The study used F344 rats and a single initiating event using diethylnitrosamine (200 mg/kg ip) at Week 0. After a 2-week recovery period, chemical treatment began by gavage administration of pentachlorobenzene (PeCB; 100 micromol/kg/day, 7 days/week) in a corn oil vehicle and continued for 6 weeks. One week after beginning gavage dosing, a two-thirds partial hepatectomy was performed and the animals were serially euthanized at 48, 120, 168, 624, and 840 h postsurgery, which corresponds to 216, 288, 336, 792, and 1008 h following the beginning of PeCB treatment, respectively. For analysis, two types of models were evaluated for describing the time-course changes in GST-P foci. First, a sequential model describing the transformation of normal cells into a homogenous initiated cell population (i.e., one-cell model). Second, a two-cell model that describes a heterogeneous foci population by splitting the initiated cell population into two distinct types. In our study, the one-cell model was unable to adequately represent the time-course data for changes in both size and number of foci. In contrast, the two-cell model, which was parameterized to describe a negative selection mechanism, produced adequate simulations of both the size and number of foci. This model-based analysis suggested that the differences between PeCB-treated and untreated animals were primarily in parameters involving the rates of cell death.

Application of a physiologically based pharmacokinetic model to estimate the bioavailability of ethanol in male rats: distinction between gastric and hepatic pathways of metabolic clearance.

A portion of ingested ethanol does not reach the systemic circulation in both rats and humans as indicated by higher blood ethanol concentrations following an intravenous administration compared to an equivalent oral administration. The mechanism for this decrease in the oral bioavailability is not yet completely understood. Metabolism by gastric or hepatic alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), or both, has been implicated. However, the extent to which each pathway of elimination contributes to the first-pass clearance is not known. The purpose of this study was to utilize a physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model for ethanol to estimate the relative contributions of hepatic and gastric metabolic clearance to the oral bioavailability of ethanol in male rats. In the current model, calculations of hepatic-first pass metabolic clearance accounted for the competition for metabolism between incoming ethanol from the GI tract and recirculating ethanol. This differs from previous methods that quantified the effect of ethanol entering the liver from the GI tract on the overall rate of metabolism of ethanol by the liver. These models did not specifically describe the effect of recirculating ethanol on the first-pass metabolism of ethanol, and vice versa. The dependence of bioavailability on dose and absorption rate was also investigated. The use of a PBPK model for ethanol in rats allows a more detailed examination of physiological and biochemical factors affecting the bioavailability of ethanol than has previously been possible. The analysis indicates that both gastric and hepatic first-pass metabolism of ethanol contribute to ethanol bioavailability in male rats.

Quantitative evaluation of alternative mechanisms of blood disposition of di(n-butyl) phthalate and mono(n-butyl) phthalate in rats.

Phthalate esters are ubiquitous, low-level environmental contaminants that induce testicular toxicity in laboratory animals. The diester is rapidly metabolized in the gut to the monoester, which causes the testicular toxicity. Several physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model structures have been evaluated for di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) and mono(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (MEHP). The objective of this study was to test these PBPK models for a less lipophilic phthalate diester, di(n-butyl) phthalate (DBP), and monoester, mono(n-butyl) phthalate (MBP). Alternate models describing enterohepatic circulation, diffusion-limitation, tissue pH gradients (pH trapping), and a simpler, flow-limited model were evaluated. A combined diffusion-limited and pH trapping model was also tested. MBP tissue:blood partition coefficients were similar when determined either experimentally by a nonvolatile, vial equilibration technique or algorithmically. All other parameters were obtained from the literature or estimated from MBP blood concentrations following intravenous or oral exposure to DBP or MBP. A flow-limited model was unable to predict MBP blood levels, whereas each alternative model had statistically better predictions. The combined diffusion-limited and pH trapping model was the best overall, having the highest log-likelihood function value. This result is consistent with a previous finding that the pH trapping model was the best model for describing DEHP and MEHP blood dosimetry, though it was necessary to extend the model to include diffusion-limitation. The application of the pH trapping model is a step toward developing a generic model structure for all phthalate esters, though more work is required before a generic structure can be identified with confidence. Development of a PBPK model structure applicable to all phthalate esters would support more realistic assessments of risk to human health from exposure to one or more members of this class of compounds.

Analysis of respiratory exchange of methanol in the lung of the monkey using a physiological model.

A physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model was developed for the monkey, to account for fractional systemic uptake of inhaled methanol vapors in the lung. Fractional uptake of inhaled [14C]-methanol was estimated using unreported exhaled breath time course measurements of [14C]-methanol from the D.C. Dorman et al. (1994, Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 128, 229-238) lung-only exposure study. The cumulative amount of [14C]-methanol exhaled was linear with respect to exposure duration (0.5 to 2 h) and concentration (10 to 900 ppm). The model estimated that forty to eighty-one percent of the of inhaled [14C]-methanol delivered to the lung was taken into systemic circulation in female Cynomolgus monkeys exposed for two h to 10-900 ppm of [14C]-methanol. There was no apparent trend between the percent of inhaled [14C]-methanol absorbed systemically and the [14C]-methanol exposure concentration. Model simulations were conducted using a single saturable Michaelis-Menten equation with Vmaxc, the metabolic capacity set to 15.54 mg/kg/h and Km, the affinity constant, to 0.66 mg/l. The [14C]-methanol blood concentrations were variable across [14C]-methanol exposure groups and the PBPK model tended to over-predict systemic clearance of [14C]-methanol. Accounting for fractional uptake of inhaled polar solvents is an important consideration for risk assessment of inhaled polar solvents.

Development of a physiologically based pharmacokinetic model of 2-methoxyethanol and 2-methoxyacetic acid disposition in pregnant rats.

An accurate description of developing embryos' exposure to a xenobiotic is a desirable component of mechanism-based risk assessments for humans exposed to potential developmental toxicants during pregnancy. 2-Methoxyethanol (2-ME), a solvent used in the manufacture of semiconductors, is embryotoxic and teratogenic in all species tested including nonhuman primates. 2-Methoxyacetic acid (2-MAA) is the primary metabolite of 2-ME and the proximate embryotoxic agent. The objective of the work described here was to adapt an existing physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model for 2-ME and 2-MAA kinetics during midorganogenesis in mice to rats on gestation days (GD) 13 and 15. Blood and tissue data were analyzed using the extrapolated PBPK model that was modified to simulate 2-ME and 2-MAA kinetics in maternal plasma and total embryo tissues in pregnant rats. The original mouse model was simplified by combining the embryos and placenta with the richly perfused tissue compartment. The model includes a description of the growth of the developing embryo and changes in the physiology of the dam during pregnancy. Biotransformation pathways of 2-ME to either ethylene glycol (EG) or to 2-MAA were described as first-order processes based on the data collected from rats by Green et al., (Occup. Hyg. 2, 67-75, 1996). Tissue partition coefficients (PCs) for 2-ME and 2-MAA were determined for a variety of maternal tissues and the embryos. Model simulations closely reflected the biological measurement of 2-ME and 2-MAA concentrations in blood and embryo tissue following gavage or iv administration of 2-ME or 2-MAA. The PBPK model for rats as described here is well suited for extrapolation to pregnant women and for assessment of 2-MAA dosimetry under various conditions of possible human exposure to 2-ME.

Quantitative evaluation of alternative mechanisms of blood and testes disposition of di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate and mono(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate in rats.

Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), a commercially important plasticizer, induces testicular toxicity in laboratory animals at high doses. After oral exposure, most of the DEHP is rapidly metabolized in the gut to mono(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (MEHP), which is the active metabolite for induction of testicular toxicity. To quantify the testes dose of MEHP with various routes of exposure and dose levels, we developed a physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model for DEHP and MEHP in rats. Tissue:blood partition coefficients for DEHP were estimated from the n-octanol: water partition coefficient, while partition coefficients for MEHP were determined experimentally using a vial equilibration technique. All other parameters were either found in the literature or estimated from blood or tissue levels following oral or intravenous exposure to DEHP or MEHP. A flow-limited model failed to adequately simulate the available data. Alternative plausible mechanisms were explored, including diffusion-limited membrane transport, enterohepatic circulation, and MEHP ionization (pH-trapping model). In the pH-trapping model, only nonionized MEHP is free to become partitioned into the tissues, where it is equilibrated and trapped as ionized MEHP until it is deionized and released. All three alternative models significantly improved predictions of DEHP and MEHP blood concentrations over the flow-limited model predictions. The pH-trapping model gave the best predictions with the largest value of the log likelihood function. Predicted MEHP blood and testes concentrations were compared to measured concentrations in juvenile rats to validate the pH-trapping model. Thus, MEHP ionization may be an important mechanism of MEHP blood and testes disposition in rats.

Quantitative mechanistically based dose-response modeling with endocrine-active compounds.

A wide range of toxicity test methods is used or is being developed for assessing the impact of endocrine-active compounds (EACs) on human health. Interpretation of these data and their quantitative use in human and ecologic risk assessment will be enhanced by the availability of mechanistically based dose-response (MBDR) models to assist low-dose, interspecies, and (italic)in vitro(/italic) to (italic)in vivo(/italic) extrapolations. A quantitative dose-response modeling work group examined the state of the art for developing MBDR models for EACs and the near-term needs to develop, validate, and apply these models for risk assessments. Major aspects of this report relate to current status of these models, the objectives/goals in MBDR model development for EACs, low-dose extrapolation issues, regulatory inertia impeding acceptance of these approaches, and resource/data needs to accelerate model development and model acceptance by the research and the regulatory community.

Transplacental and lactational transfer of p,p'-DDE in Sprague-Dawley rats.

p,p'-DDE (hereafter DDE), a persistent metabolite of p,p'-DDT, is a widespread environmental contaminant that can induce antiandrogenic developmental effects in rats. Quantitative measurements of the transfer of DDE from pregnant or lactating dams to the fetus or suckling neonate were performed, and physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) models for the transplacental and lactational transfer of DDE were developed. Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were dosed by gavage in corn oil with either 10 or 100 mg DDE per kg body wt per day from Gestation Day (gd) 14 to 18. DDE was analyzed in several maternal tissues as well as in fetal and neonatal tissues from gd 15 to Postnatal Day (pnd) 21. Fetal DDE concentrations were about threefold lower than corresponding placental concentrations. By adopting a cross-fostering design, the contributions of transplacental and lactational transfer were compared. In the pup liver, where DDE was detectable in the 100 mg/kg groups on pnd 10, the lactationally exposed group had DDE concentrations about 50 times higher than those of the in utero only exposure group; the lactation only exposure groups had DDE tissue dose profiles very similar to those of the in utero plus lactation exposure groups, indicating that the lactational route is far more important than the in utero route quantitatively. The PBPK models postulated initial absorption of DDE into both the blood circulation and lymphatic system with the primary storage sites being maternal and neonatal adipose tissues. Mobilization of DDE from its storage sites is postulated to occur via its association with mobilized fatty acids and lipoproteins. The results provide an overall framework for evaluating the tissue dosimetry of DDE and for understanding how maternal exposure to DDE could affect perinatal sexual development in utero or in the early postnatal period.

Correlation of regional formaldehyde flux predictions with the distribution of formaldehyde-induced squamous metaplasia in F344 rat nasal passages.

Squamous epithelium lines the nasal vestibule of the rat, rhesus monkey, and human. Respiratory, transitional, and olfactory epithelia line most areas posterior to the nasal vestibule. Inhaled formaldehyde gas induces squamous metaplasia posterior to the nasal vestibule and does not induce lesions in the nasal vestibule in rats and rhesus monkeys, indicating that squamous epithelium is resistant to irritant effects of formaldehyde and that squamous metaplasia may be an adaptive response. If squamous metaplasia is determined by formaldehyde dosimetry rather than by tissue-specific factors, squamous epithelium may be protective by absorbing less formaldehyde than other epithelial types. In a previous study, a three-dimensional, anatomically accurate computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of the anterior F344 rat nasal passages was used to simulate inspiratory airflow and inhaled formaldehyde transport. The present study consisted of two related parts. First, the rat CFD model was used to test the hypothesis that the distribution of formaldehyde-induced squamous metaplasia is related to the location of high-flux regions posterior to squamous epithelium. Regional formaldehyde flux into nonsquamous epithelium predicted by the CFD model correlated with regional incidence of formaldehyde-induced squamous metaplasia on the airway perimeter of one cross-sectional level of the noses of F344 rats exposed to 10 and 15 ppm formaldehyde gas for 6 months. Formaldehyde flux into nonsquamous epithelium was estimated to vary by an order of magnitude depending on the degree of formaldehyde absorption by squamous epithelium. These results indicate that the degree to which squamous epithelium absorbs formaldehyde strongly affects the rate and extent of the progression of squamous metaplasia with continued exposure to formaldehyde. In the second part of this study, the CFD model was used to predict squamous metaplasia progression. Data needs for verification of this model prediction are considered. These results indicate that information on the permeability of squamous epithelium in rats, monkeys, and humans is important for accurate prediction of uptake in regions posterior to the nasal vestibule.

Hepatic foci in rats after diethylnitrosamine initiation and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin promotion: evaluation of a quantitative two-cell model and of CYP 1A1/1A2 as a dosimeter.

2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) is a potent hepatic tumor promoter in female rats. We used a quantitative, stochastic initiation-promotion model based on R. B. Conolly and J. S. Kimbell (Toxicol. Appl. Pharmacol. 124, 284-295, 1994) to analyze initiation-promotion results from a previously published study (H. C. Pitot et al., Carcinogenesis 8, 1491-1499, 1987) within the context of a negative selection model of tumor promotion. In this model, two types of initiated cells (called A and B cells) are produced by DEN initiation. Visually excellent correspondence between model predictions and data (i.e., foci/cm3 liver and percentage of liver occupied by foci) are obtained when TCDD is described as having dose-responsive effects on division and death (apoptotic) rates of these two cell types. For A cells, both the division and the death rates increase while the difference between division and apoptotic rates decreases. For B cells, the difference between division and apoptotic rates increases, primarily due to a decrease in the apoptotic rate. We also linked these alterations in cell kinetics to a pharmacokinetic model for TCDD incorporating a five subcompartment model of the liver acinus with induction of CYP1A1 and 1A2 genes in the subcompartments. Alterations in A cell kinetics correlate with effects of TCDD in the region most sensitive to induction (subcompartment 5-centrilobular region); B cell dynamics correlate with induction in subcompartments 3-5 (centrilobular and mid-zonal regions). In summary, these modeling exercises show that (1) the two-cell model, without presuming effects of TCDD on the mutation rate of normal hepatocytes, reproduces the data of Pitot et al. (1987) and (2) induction of CYP1A1/1A2 in different regions of the hepatic acinus can be used as a general correlate of these presumed changes in cell growth kinetics.

Implementation of EPA Revised Cancer Assessment Guidelines: Incorporation of Mechanistic and Pharmacokinetic Data.

A workshop entitled "Implementation of EPA Revised Cancer Assessment Guidelines: Incorporation of Mechanistic and Pharmacokinetic Data" was held in Anaheim, California, in 1996 at the 35th Annual Meeting of the Society of Toxicology (SOT). This workshop was jointly sponsored by the Carcinogenesis, Risk Assessment, and Veterinary Specialty Sections of the SOT. The thrust of the workshop was to discuss the scientific basis for the revisions to the EPA Guidelines for cancer assessment and EPA's plans for their implementation. This is the first revision to the original EPA guidelines which have been in use by EPA since 1986. The principal revisions are intended to provide a framework for an increased ability to incorporate biological data into the risk assessment process. Two cases were presented, for chloroform and triclioroethylene, that demonstrated the use of the revised guidelines for specific cancer risk assessments. Using these new guidelines, nonlinear margin of exposure analyses were proposed for these chemicals instead of the linearized multistage model previously used by the EPA as the default method. The workshop participants generally applauded the planned revisions to the EPA guidelines. For the most part, they considered that the revised guidelines represented a positive step which should allow for and encourage the use of biological information in the conduct of cancer risk assessments. Several participants cautioned however that the major problem with cancer risk assessments would continue to be the inadequacy of available data on which to conduct more scientific risk assessments.

Comparison of inhaled formaldehyde dosimetry predictions with DNA-protein cross-link measurements in the rat nasal passages.

Kimbell and coworkers (Toxicol, Appl. Pharmacol, 121, 253-263, 1993) developed a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of a F344 rat nasal passage to quantify local wall mass flux (uptake rate) of inhaled chemical. To simulate formaldehyde uptake, Kimbell et al. assumed that mass transfer of formaldehyde from the air into the nasal lining was fast and complete. This was approximated in the CFD model by setting the formaldehyde concentration at the airway walls to zero. Experimental confirmation of formaldehyde mass-flux predictions is desirable if the CFD model is to be used for predicting formaldehyde dosimetry. The purpose of this study was to see if the CFD model predictions of formaldehyde mass flux are consistent with laboratory data on formaldehyde dosimetry. In this study, a mathematical model of the nasal lining was modified to link CFD dosimetry predictions for inhaled formaldehyde with measured tissue disposition of inhaled gas. This model treats the nasal lining as a single, well-stirred compartment, accounts for formaldehyde reaction via saturable and first-order pathways, and allows comparison of model-predicted DNA-protein cross-links (DPX) with regional DPX measured in formaldehyde-exposed rats. Effective Michaelis-Menten kinetic parameters (Vmax = 3040 microM/min and Km = 59 microM) and a pseudo-first-order rate constant for elimination of formaldehyde by nonsaturable pathways (kf = 6 min-1) were estimated (fit) using an average mass flux derived from experimentally measured uptake of formaldehyde. DPX predictions obtained using the estimated kinetic parameters and linking the CFD model to the nasal-lining model compared well with experimentally measured DPX. The close correlation between predicted and measured DPX in the rat nasal passage supports the CFD model predictions of formaldehyde mass flux at the level of resolution provided by the experimental data.