Abstract

Several thousand Québec workers are exposed concomitantly to heat and chemicals.

Heat exposure triggers a series of compensatory physiological responses that help the human body maintain its internal temperature despite heat stress. The physiological changes may modify the functioning of several organs involved in absorbing and metabolizing chemicals. According to data from the scientific literature, this can increase the concentration, and toxicity, of chemicals in body fluids.

This project will analyze, in volunteers exposed in an inhalation chamber, the pulmonary absorption and toxicokinetics of three organic solvents in the presence of heat stress associated with workplaces.

The data collected during these experiments will also be used to develop and validate physiologically based toxicokinetic (PBTK) models to predict the kinetics of organic substances in concomitant exposure to heat and estimate the associated risk for workers.