6533b7d9fe1ef96bd126c15d

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Effect of potential antidotes on the acute toxicity of acrylonitrile

subject

description

Rats were intoxicated with lethal doses of acrylonitrile by different routes of application, and the effect of potential antidotes was studied. The cyanide antidotes 4-dimethylaminophenol plus thiosulfate showed some protective effect only after oral but not after i.p. or inhalatory acrylonitrile application. Of the sulfhydryl compounds cysteine, N-acetylcysteine, cysteamine and diethyldithiocarbamate the two antidotes cysteine and, to some lesser extent, N-acetylcysteine proved especially effective. Cysteine, at a dose of 200 mg/kg (i.p.), prevented the lethal effect of 100 mg/kg acrylonitrile (i.p.) even when given 2 h after the acrylonitrile dose. From these experiments a tentative schedule of antidote therapy for humans accidentally intoxicated with acrylonitrile is inferred which will be validated in further studies in subhuman primates.