Abstract
Toxicological study on carbon monoxide was carried out with special consideration to eliminate the effect of carbon dioxide expired by animals in the atmosphere. When 0.6% carbon monoxide in air was inhaled, mice did not manifest any toxic symptom. When 1.0% carbon monoxide-air mixture was inhaled, about 30% of mice died from respiratory failure following violent con-vulsion within a period of the first 30 minutes. Another 30% were alive at the end of 3 hours' observation, while the remainders died with almost even death rate in the course of the observation time. At a concentration of 1.5% carbon monoxide all the mice were killed within 30 minutes. Thus minimum lethal concentration was around 1.0%, but a normal distribution curve could not be obtained for the death rate of mice by the inhalation of this concentration of carbon monoxide.
Effect of coenzyme Q7, premedication was studied in the expectation that it may protect mice from acute carbon monoxide poisoning, because it plays a role in biological electron carrier systems. In doses of 20 and 100mg/kg intraperito-neally, however, coenzyme Q7 could not influence the susceptibility of mice to carbon monoxide.
