Range-Finding Study for a Reproductive Screen of Modular Artillery Charge System (XM231/XM232) Administered in the Diet of Sprague-Dawley Rats.

An artillery propellant under development b the U.S. Army is a granular mixture of nitrocelinlose, nitroglycerin, nitroguanidine, ethylcentralite, cryolite, and graphite. The propellant, Modniar Artillery Charge System or MACS, consists of a single increment of propellant charge contained within a rigid combustible casing. Nitrocellulose, nitroglycerin, and nitroguanidine make up greater than 98 of the total propellant mixture. As part of the process to develop environmental and health effects criteria, a 90-day modified Screening Information Data Set reproductive assay is planned. In order to provide information on clinical signs, methemoglobin formation and possible target organs, as well as determine dose levels, a range- finding study was performed. Male and female Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with diet containing either O.O,0.2S, or 2.Og propellantkg diet for a three-week period. No mortalities occurred and body weights were unaffected by treatment. Methemoglobin concentrations measured at the conclusion of the study indicated no differences between treated and control rats. Relative liver weights of the high-dose female rats were significantly p0. 1 greater than the control group. No gross lesions were noted at necropsy.