Nitrate formation in rats exposed to nitrogen dioxide

Sprague-Dawley rats exposed to atmospheres containing low levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) for 24 hr had increased levels of nitrate in their urine on the day of exposure and on the 3 subsequent days. The total increase in urinary nitrate was linearly related to the nitrogen dioxide concentration administered. We recovered in urine 8.4 ± 1.1 μmol nitrate/ppm $\text{NO}{}_2\text{24}\text{-hr}$ exposure (slope ± 95% confidence limits) for 185-g rats. Both the linearity and magnitude of this effect imply that reaction with respiratory tract water is not a major pathway of NO₂ absorption in the lung. Instead, our observations support the hypothesis that the major interaction of NO₂ in the lung is with readily oxidizable tissue components to form nitrite. We estimate that 9.6 μmol of nitrite is formed in the respiratory tract of the rat per ppm NO₂ per 24-hr exposure. We also estimate that humans breathing air containing 0.1 ppm NO₂ have about 3.6 mg of nitrite formed in their respiratory tract per day.