Table 1.
The arterial blood gas parameters in Sprague Dawley rats after short- and long-term elemental mercury vapor exposure and those with no mercury vapor exposure.
| Arterial blood gas parameters | Groups | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Short-term exposure | Long-term exposure | Control | |||||||
| All animals | Males | Females | All animals | Males | Females | All animals | Males | Females | |
| pH | 7.23 ± 0.05∗ | 7.22 ± 0.03 | 7.24 ± 0.07 | 7.18 ± 0.02∗ | 7.18 ± 0.02 | 7.19 ± 0.0 | 7.36 ± 0.09 | 7.32 ± 0.02 | 7.4 ± 0.06 |
| PCO2 | 62 ± 10∗ | 65 ± 6 | 60 ± 13 | 68 ± 4∗ | 69 ± 4 | 66 ± 4 | 44 ± 8 | 50 ± 10 | 37 ± 4 |
| PO2 | 49 ± 21∗ | 42 ± 10 | 55 ± 18 | 52 ± 14∗ | 55 ± 15 | 44 ± 5 | 67 ± 16 | 57 ± 13 | 77 ± 11 |
| SpO2 | 66 ± 19∗ | 63 ± 17 | 69 ± 20 | 71 ± 16∗ | 73 ± 18 | 65 ± 7 | 89 ± 9 | 84 ± 10 | 94 ± 3 |
| HCO3 | 25 ± 3 | 26 ± 2 | 24 ± 3 | 25 ± 2 | 25 ± 15 | 25 ± 5 | 24 ± 3 | 25 ± 2 | 23 ± 2 |
∗ Statistically significant in comparison with the control group (p ≤ 0.05).