© 1987 Oxford University Press
research-article |
Acute Inhalation Toxicity of T-2 Mycotoxin in Mice1
Divisions of Palhophysiology, Pathology, and Airborne Diseases, United Slates Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases Fort Detrick, Frederick, Maryland 21701-5011
Acute Inhalation Toxicity of T-2 Mycotoxin in Mice. Creasia, D. A., THURMAN, J. D., JONES, L. J., III, NEALLEY, M. L., YORK, C. G., WANNEMACHER, R. W., Jr., and BUNNER, D. L. (1987). Fundam. Appl. Toxicol. 8, 230–235. Experiments were conducted to study the acute inhalation toxicity of T-2 mycotoxin in both young adult and mature mice. For a 10-min aerosol exposure, the 24-hr LC50 of T-2 mycotoxin in young adult mice was 0.08 ± 0.04 mg T-2/liter air and that for mature mice was 0.325 ± 0.1 mg T-2/liter air. Deaths among mice exposed to the higher aerosol concentrations used in this study (i.e., 1.5 to 2.4 mg T-2/liter air) occurred in less than 5 hr. General clinical symptoms in these animals immediately postexposure were tremors, lethargy, stilted gait, and, in some animals, prostration. In experiments separate from the concentration-response studies, total deposition of T-2 aerosol and selective retention of T-2 in the respiratory tract and nasal turbinates were determined analytically from 3H-labeled T-2. When total deposition of T-2 was quantitated, there was excellent agreement between that amount of T-2 deposited and that amount of T-2 predicted from calculations based on aerosol size and animal minute volume. Based on the aerosol deposition data, the LD50 values of T-2 mycotoxins was 0.24 mg/kg for young adult mice and 0.94 mg/kg for mature mice. For mice, inhalation of T-2 mycotoxin is at least 10 times more toxic than systemic administration (LD50 
4.5 mg/kg) and at least 20 times more toxic than dermal administration (LD50 > 10 mg/kg).