Subchronic inhalation toxicity of dimethylformamide in rats and mice.

Fisher F344 rats and B6C3F1 mice were exposed to concentrations of 0, 150, 300, 600 and 1200 ppm of dimethylformamide (DMF) for 6 hours a day, 5 days a week for 12 weeks. Detailed clinical observations were obtained weekly and body weights biweekly on all animals. Clinical chemistry and hematology evaluations were made on all rats and approximately half the mice at terminal sacrifice. Gross necropsy examinations were made on all animals. Histopathologic evaluations were conducted on selected tissues of animals of both species at all dose levels. Few overt signs of toxicity were seen in either rats or mice. There was a dose related depression in body weight gain in rats that was significant at the 1200 ppm level from the second week of study onwards. A total of 11 mice died or were sacrificed moribund during the study, 8 from the high dose and 2 from the 600 ppm dose level. Both clinical chemistry (in rats only) and gross necropsy observations, and histopathology of tissues indicate the possibility that liver may be the target in specific organ toxicity. The no-effect DMF dose was below the 150 ppm level for both rats and mice and the maximum tolerated dose was below the 600 ppm level.