Lewis, TR; Perone, VB; Specht, HD; Smallwood, W
Triphenyltin chloride (TPTC) is a chemical precursor oftriphenyltin hydroxide, an industrial bacteriostatic and fungistatic agent. In 1973, an industrial fatality occurred when a worker was drenched by a 1500-gallon slurry of TPTC spilled from an unbolted hatch of a mixing vessel. The present study was designed to evaluate the systemic and local effects that would result from dermal contact with TPTC under conditions of different solvents, solvent temperatures and skin cleansing agents. Forty-eight healthy male and female rabbits, weighing 1.8-2.6 kg, were assigned to a 2 x 2 x 3 factorial design consisting of the 12 possible combinations of (1) two solvents, water or heptane, (2) two temperatures for each solvent 75° or 100°F, and (3) three skin cleansers, water, isopropyl alcohol or heptane. Acute primary skin irritation, tissue concentrations of tin in kidney, liver, heart, skin (2 layers) and body fat, hematological indices and histopathology of the kidney, liver, spleen, skin and bone marrow were the biological parameters investigated. Skin irritation did not differ with solvent. Significant differences occurred among the cleansers with all 3 showing significant differences from one another; skin cleansed with water had the highest degree of irritancy and that with heptane the least. Abraded animals had higher tin content in the heart, both layers of skin, kidney and liver than did unabraded animals. Muscle and body fat had essentially the same tin content. When heptane was the solvent, increased concentrations of tin were noted in both layers of the skin, but were not demonstrable in the kidney, liver or heart. Data on cleanser effects on tissue tin concentration are equivocal. No hematologic alterations were noted. TPTC causes primary skin irritation consisting of erythema and edema. Furthermore, significant skin absorption occurs, particularly from abraded areas.