Toxicity Profile for Glutaraldehyde (1991)

Abstract

Glutaraldehyde irritated the eyes, skin and respiratory tract of humans and laboratory animals. It has induced skin sensitization in man and laboratory animals, and has occasionally caused asthma in people exposed at work. Acute dermal toxicity was moderate to low in rabbits, rats and mice. Glutaraldehyde was of moderate to high acute oral toxicity in rats, mice and guinea-pigs, inducing central nervous system effects. Acute toxicity by inhalation was high in rats and caused lung damage in rats and mice. In a Soviet study, repeated oral doses of glutaraldehyde evidently had effects on the heart, kidneys and liver. Repeated oral doses given during pregnancy to rabbits caused foetotoxicity at maternally toxic doses. In mice treated similarly, but with a mixture containing glutaraldehyde, foetotoxicity and an increased incidence of malformations were seen at maternally toxic doses. DNA damage, mutations and some evidence of chromosome damage were found in mammalian cells in culture following treatment with glutaraldehyde. It was mutagenic in Ames bacterial assays. DNA damage was not induced in the liver cells of rats treated orally. A dominant lethal mutation assay where female rats were treated orally gave a negative result.