Biologic effects of auto emissions. I. Exhaust from engine with and without catalytic converter.

Abstract

This paper relates to the efficacy of a catalytic converter in reducing the levels of certain pollutants emitted from an automobile engine and to the reduction and/or elimination of gross biologic damages in animals exposed to emissions from an exhaust system containing such catalysts. Groups of rats were exposed to diluted emissions from an automobile engine with and without catalyst. Concomitantly, a comparative experiment was conducted by exposing a group of rats to carbon monoxide alone (575 mg/m3). The parameters measured included hematocrit, serum LDH, GOT, and lysozyme. An elevation in hematocrit was observed in animals of the experiment run without catalyst and in those exposed to carbon monoxide; the use of the catalyst reduced the carbon monoxide levels in the exposure chambers by more than tenfold and prevented these bioeffects from occurring. Serum LDH activity was elevated in the groups of rats in the experiment conducted without catalyst, but no alternation was observed in the animals from the experiment utilizing the catalyst or in those exposed to carbon monoxide alone. The data obtained in this study showed that acute exposure to noncatalytic emissions caused significant alterations in certain biologic parameters. Conversely, the introduction of an oxidizing catalytic converter into the engine exhaust system reduced or prevented such biologic damage.