This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Institóris, L Articles by Dési, I Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Institóris, L Articles by Dési, I Pubmed/NCBI databases Compound via MeSH Substance via MeSH Medline Plus Health Information Arsenic Mercury Hazardous Substances DB ARSENIC COMPOUNDS ARSENIC, ELEMENTAL DIMETHOATE MERCURIC CHLORIDE MERCURY COMPOUNDS MERCURY, ELEMENTAL Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Immunotoxicological investigations on rats treated subacutely with dimethoate, As3+and Hg2+ in combination

O Siroki

Department of Public Health, Faculty of General Medicine, University of Szeged, H-6720 Szeged, Dóm tér 10, Hungary

Ü Ündeger

N Basaran

Department of Pharmaceutical Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Hacettepe University, 06100 Samanpazari, Ankara, Turkey

I Dési

Department of Public Health, Faculty of General Medicine, University of Szeged, H-6720 Szeged, Dóm tér 10, Hungary

Effects of combined exposure with dimethoate (DM), HgCl₂(Hg),andNaAsO₂ (As)wereinvestigatedfollowinga28-day oral exposure in male Wistar rats. In preliminary experiments, the LOEL (Lowest Observed Effect Level) and NOEL (Non Observed Effect Level) doses of the substances were determined using the same experimental system [determination of body weight gain, organ weights of brain, thymus, heart, lung, kidneys, adrenals, spleen, testicles, popliteal lymph node, white blood cell (WBC) and red blood cell (RBC) count, haematocrit (Ht), mean cell volume (MCV) of RBCs, cell content of the femoral bone marrow, IgM-plaque forming cell (PFC) content of the spleen, delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH) reaction] and animal strain. In the combination studies, LOEL dose of DM (28.2 mg/kg) was combinedwithNOELdosesoftheheavymetals(HgCl₂ =0.40 mg/kg, NaAsO₂ =3.33 mg/kg), and vice versa (DM=7.04 mg/kg, HgCl₂ =3.20 mg/kg, NaAsO₂ =13.3 mg/kg). In the DM–Hg combinations, significant alterations were found versus the corresponding high-dose internal control in the body weight gain, relative liver and kidney weights, and in the PFC response. When DM was combined with As, interactions were indicated by changes of relative liver weight, MCV value, and the PFC content of the spleen.

These results support the theory that the interactions between pesticides and heavy metals may modify the toxic effects of the single substances, and may also change the functional detection limits of the exposure. The changes in the functional detection limits, if they occur, can lead to false-positive and false-negative results in human epidemiological studies.

Key Words: immunotoxicity • dimethoate • arsenic • mercury • rat

Human & Experimental Toxicology, Vol. 20, No. 7, 329-336 (2001)
DOI: 10.1191/096032701680350569


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?