Investigations of the Toxicological Action of Spark-Decomposed SF/sub 6/ in Mammalian Cells

摘要

The biological/toxicological activity of spark-decomposed SF sub 6 has been investigated in a cell culture assay system, using cell survival as the measure of biological activity. Spark-decomposed SF sub 6 , at a given total spark energy, shows a stronger cytotoxic effect toward CHO (Chinese hamster ovary) cells than toward V79 (Chinese hamster lung) cells. Cytotoxicity results from a synthetic mixture (designed to mimic the byproducts produced by spark decomposition) confirmed previous mixture studies, in that the mixture was without cytotoxic activity. A spark-decomposed SF sub 6 sample, sparked to the appropriate energy to contain nearly the same concentrations of byproducts as the mixture, was assayed at the same time, and was found to show strong cytotoxic activity. Disulfur decafluoride (S sub 2 F sub 10 ) was tested in the cytotoxicity assay system at concentrations of 100 to 5000 ppM in SF sub 6 , all of which produced significant cytotoxicity. The CHO cells showed greater sensitivity than the V79 to the toxic action of S sub 2 F sub 10 . Heating is reported to decompose S sub 2 F sub 10 . Accordingly, a sample of S sub 2 F sub 10 was heated to 250 sup 0 C for 2 h, and subsequently tested for cytotoxicity. Heating abolished the cytotoxicity. Samples of spark-decomposed SF sub 6 were heated as above, and tested for cytotoxic activity in comparison to samples of spark-decomposed SF sub 6 which were from the same sparked sample, but had not been heated. Heating significantly reduced the cytotoxicity of these samples. These data suggest that S sub 2 F sub 10 may be present in spark-decomposed SF sub 6 prepared in our system, and that S sub 2 F sub 10 may be a significant contributor to the overall toxicity of spark-decomposed SF sub 6 , although there are other byproducts and/or factors which may also play a role in the cytotoxic activity of this electrically-stressed gas. 11 refs., 4 tabs. (ERA citation 12:025963)