Abstract
The neurochemical changes which could serve as physiological compensatory mechanisms during recovery from a high level acute intoxication with an organophosphate anticholinesterase were studied concurrently with behavioral deficits resulting from the intoxication. Paraoxon, the active metabolite of the common insecticide parathion, was administered to male rats at lethal (antidoted with atropine) and high sub-lethal levels. Brain acetylcholinesterase, the target enzyme, was inhibited about 90% on the day of treatment, and recovered slowly over the next several days. Rats displayed some relatively small and transient behavioral deficits 1 and 2 days after treatment with paraoxon in an active avoidance protocol. Of four neurochemical parameters in the brain which could have helped compensate for the cholinergic hyperactivity induced by the acetylcholinesterase inhibition (high affinity choline uptake, choline acetyltransferase, acetylcholine release and muscarinic acetylcholine receptors), none showed definitive changes at the time points monitored. Thus, unlike the response to chronic exposures to organophosphate anticholineterases, an acute intoxication, even at high dose levels, does not seem to result in the employment of cholinergic compensatory mechanisms despite persistent acetylcholinesterase inhibition.
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© 1989 Plenum Press, New York
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Chambers, J.E., Chambers, H.W. (1989). Physiological Compensation for Toxic Actions of Organophosphate Insecticides. In: Narahashi, T., Chambers, J.E. (eds) Insecticide Action. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-1324-3_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-1324-3_12
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