A combined dynamic inhalation device designed for moxa-smoking toxicity testing

OBJECTIVE： To design a combined dynamic inhalation device for testing the toxicity induced by moxa smoking. METHODS： The new apparatus （Patent No. 201120101911.5） includes air renewal and recycling systems, a gas generating device, a gas control unit, and a device to measure and control tem- perature and humidity. Sprague-dawley rats were tested for acute and sub-chronic toxicity after exposure to moxa-burning smoke.METHODS： The new apparatus （Patent No. 201120101911.5） includes air renewal and recycling systems, a gas generating device, a gas control unit, and a device to measure and control tem- perature and humidity. Sprague-dawley rats were tested for acute and sub-chronic toxicity after exposure to moxa-burning smoke.RESULTS： We found an LQ0 of 1.2× 10^4 mg/m^3 in the acute toxicity assays. In sub-chronic toxicity tests the organ coefficients studied showed no sig-nificant differences within rats groups of the same gender after treatment with moxa smoke or a month of recovery. However, mean gray degree of lung 70 heat shock protein （HSP70） was significantly elevated in the high dose group in comparison with the low dose group （P 〈 0.05）, mean gray degree, mean optical density, gross area of HSP70 in other organs and caspase-9 parameters showed no significant differences between groups.CONCLUSION： These results suggest that moxa smoke had no overt toxicity in rats. This work pro- vides evidence and reference for the design of dy- namic inhalation exposure systems.