Department of Health and Human Services Public Health Service, Grant Application

Principal investigator/Program Director yLast, first, middle): Duesberg, Peter H.
Experimental Plan
Otto G. Raabe, Mohammed A. Al-Bayati
Institute of Toxicology and Environmental Health
University of California, Davis
The animal work described in the proposal by Dr. Peter Duesberg et al., will be performed
by or under the supervision of Dr. 0. G. Raabe and Dr. M. A. Al-Bayati in the Institute of
Toxicology and Environmental Health at the University of California Davis. The work will
be performed in three years, from February 1994 through January 1997.
Briefly, the work will include the exposure of 560 male and female mice to alkyl nitrite
vapors at 60 to 300 ppm for 6 to 24 months or to air as described by Al-Bayati et al. (AlBayati et al., 1992). Animal housing and care, animal handling, clinical examination,
necroscopy, tissue examination, blood chemistry and data analysis will follow published
procedures (Al-Bayati et al., 1989; Al-Bayati et al., 1990; Al-Bayati et al., 1992). In this study
the toxic effects of alkyl nitrite on the immune system and other organs will be monitored.
A total of 140 mice from the exposed and the control groups will be infected with Moloney
retrovirus, to test the hypothesis that nitrites act as cofactors of the retrovirus HIV in
causing immunodeficiency. Animals will be sacrificed in groups of 5 to 10 after 1 to 24
months of nitrite inhalation for gross and microscopic examination of the thymus, lymph
nodes, spleen, liver, kidney, lung, and brain as described by Al-Bayati et al. (Al-Bayati et al.,
1989). Blood and serum samples will be taken from each animal for standard hematology
and serum chemistry also as described by Al-Bayati et al. (Al-Bayati et al., 1990).
Literature cited
Al-Bayati, M. A., Gir, S. N. and Raabe, 0. G. (1990) Time and dose-response study of the
effects of vanadate on rats: Changes in blood cells and serum elements. J. Environ. Pathol.,
Toxicol. & Oncology 10: 206-213.
Al-Bayati, M. A., Gin, S. N., Raabe, 0. G., Rosenblatt, L. and Shifrine, M. (1989) Time and
dose-response study of the effects of vanadate on rats: Morphological and biochemical
changes in organs. J. Environ. Pathol., Toxicol. & Oncology 9: 435-455.
Al-Bayati, M. A., Raabe, 0. G. and Teague, S. V. (1992) Effect of inhaled dimethylselenide
in the Fischer 344 male rat. J. Toxicol. and Environ. Health 37:549-557.

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