Summary
The lipid soluble substance styrene exhibits a constant respiratory uptake during a long period of industrial exposure to its vapour. To evaluate the kinetics of this substance it is necessary to know its partition coefficients between blood and air, and between adipose tissue and blood. The partition coefficient between non-adipose tissue and blood is usually considered to be one.
A new sampling-procedure for the spectrophotometric determination of styrene in blood, water, olive oil and air is described. With this procedure the partition coefficients were determined at 37‡C, taking olive oil as a substitute for human adipose tissue.
The partition coefficients of styrene between water and air were calculated to be 4.38, between blood and air 32, and between oil and blood about 130. From these data it is concluded that diffusion through the alveolar membrane constitutes no rate-limiting factor for the respiratory uptake of styrene vapour, and that the adipose tissue compartment has a large storage capacity for styrene.
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van Rees, H. The partition coefficients of styrene between blood and air and between oil and blood. Int. Arch. Arbeitsmed. 33, 39–47 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00538978
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00538978