Toxicokinetics
AA and its esters are rapidly metabolized and do not accumulate in the mammalian body. Acrylate esters were found to disappear rapidly in rat whole blood in vitro; the t½ was 3.6, 4.6, and 7.1 minutes for disappearance of methyl, ethyl, and butyl acrylate, respectively.
Studies demonstrated that acrylic acid was quite stable in rat blood as well as in rat liver, kidney and lung homogenates in vitro. In rats and mice a high percentage (> 75%) of orally administered AA was absorbed and eliminated as carbon dioxide within 24 hours. Ethyl acrylate disappeared in tissue homogenates in vitro; the rate of hydrolysis was ~20 times greater in liver homogenates than in kidney or lung homogenates. Similar results were obtained for methyl acrylate. The rate of hydrolysis in rat liver homogenates increased in the order butyl < ethyl < methyl. Disappearance of the acrylate esters in vitro in tissue homogenates, but not in blood, was quantitatively associated with the appearance of acrylic acid, indicating that the esters hydrolyze to the acid and the associated alcohol.