Etiology

• Plastic/Rubber Textile/Resin Manufacturing: inhalational exposure
  • Used as a substrate in the production of acrylate polymers and acrylic acid
• Herbicide
• Slimicide
• Smoke Inhalation (see Smoke Inhalation): inhalational exposure
  • Formed during combustion of organic materials, in cigarette smoke, and from combustion of overheated cooking oil
• Metabolite of Cyclophosphamide (see Cyclophosphamide): IV exposure

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Physiology

• Highly Electrophilic Reactive Aldehyde
  • Low Dose: inhibition of cell proliferation (without causing cell death) and enhancement of apoptosis from secondary toxins
  • High Dose: cell death ensues
  • Mechanism of Inahaltional Injury: direct irritation of mucous membranes and skin

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Clinical

Pulmonary Manifestations

• Acute Lung Injury-ARDS (see Acute Lung Injury-ARDS)

Extraplumonary Manifestations

• Contact Dermatitis
• Ocular Irritation

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References

• Acute pulmonary toxicity of acrolein in rats-underlying mechanism. Toxicology Letters
  Volume 104, Issue 3, 22 February 1999, Pages 189–194
• The effects of acrolein exposure on pulmonary antibacterial defenses. Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology
  Volume 67, Issue 1, January 1983, Pages 49–54
• The Molecular Effects of Acrolein. Toxicol. Sci. (2000) 57 (1): 6-15
• Synthetic smoke with acrolein but not HCl produces pulmonary edema. Journal of Applied Physiology March 1988 vol. 64 no. 3 1121-1133