Florida State University K12 Initiatives

1
MULTIPLE SHORT-TERM EFFECTS OF PROPIONIC ACID AND
SECOND HAND SMOKE IN ENVIRONMENTAL CHAMBER
Joseph C. Suarez, Robert Whitt, Dianne B.
Walker and James C. Walker


Sensory Research Institute, Florida
State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306
POSTER PRESENTATION AT THE APRIL 2004 MEETINGS OF
THE ASSOCIATION FOR CHEMORECEPTION SCIENCES
2
Introduction/Experimental Design

• To better understand the extremely costly
  (gt10billion annually in US alone Fisk
  Rosenfeld, 1997) effects/impacts of indoor
  exposures to airborne chemicals, rigorous
  psychobiological studies in the semi-naturalistic
  setting of environmental chambers are required.
• We designed, constructed and tested (AChemS,
  2003) a chamber for this purpose and are using it
  in a multi-disciplinary study of the responses of
  20 normal and 10 anosmic participants (Ps), all
  "never-smokers (lt5 cigarettes in lifetime). We
  report here on the 12 normals (6 males - 20-54 6
  females - 18-54) tested thus far.

3
Introduction/Experimental Design

• Each P was given at least one session (some
  makeups needed) with each of 8 stimulus
  conditions Propionic Acid (PA)
  Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) 0, 1,
  10 15 ppm 0 (unlit cig.),15,100 800
  mg/m3 RSP
• The following endpoints were measured
• A. Sensory/Symptom (13 items)
• B. Breathing (volume and time parameters)
• C. Eye Blink Rate
• C. Blood Pressure
• D. Numeral Scanning Test
• E. STPI (state portion only - psychological
  state)

4
As shown below, the plateau concentration was
held for minutes 20-70 except with 15ppm PA.
5
Sensory Three of 13 sensory/symptom attributes
are summarized, separately for ETS PA. For all
3 sensations, possible values ranged from 0 to 59
with 39 (2/3 of max. poss.) denoting a sensation
equal to the strongest experienced prior to
participation in this study.
6
BreathingInhalation duration and volume were
recorded for all breaths throughout each session.
Those during sensory/symptom, STPI or NST were
excluded from means calculated for each of ten
10-minute periods. Responding during periods
2-10 was expressed as change from period 1.
Min. Ventil. total volume inhaled per minute.
7
Numeral ScanningTask is to use mouse to mark
trios of odd digits. The change in net
performance from pre-stimulus baseline is shown
for two time points. Stimulus decline begins at
minute 70 except with 15 ppm PA (see first
figure).
8
Blood PressureThe changes in both systolic
and diastolic (from pre-stimulus sample to one
taken minute 72-73) are shown for all 8
conditions.
9
Acknowledgements
Research described in this poster was supported
in part by Phillip Morris USA, Inc.