Lindane Toxicity and Protein-Deficient Diet

Abstract

The median lethal dose (LD₅₀) ± SE of gamma benzene hexachloride (lindane) given orally to young, male, albino rats was 157 ± 37 mg/kg. The clinical signs of intoxication were anorexia, diarrhea, sialorrhea, occasionally dacryorrhea, epistaxis, oligodipsia, hypothermia, loss of body weight, diuresis, proteinuria, and aciduria. Death occurred at from one to 25 hours from respiratory failure, usually following convulsions. At autopsy on animals which died early, the main histopathological finding was capillary-venous congestion of the brain, meninges, and many other organs. When death was delayed, degenerative changes appeared in the gastrointestinal tract, kidneys, liver, striated muscle, testes, and thymus gland. Many organs had lost weight sometimes due to loss of water. Cachectic rats whose growth had been stunted by the feeding of a low protein (casein) diet from the time of weaning were found to be twice as susceptible to the toxic effects of lindane. The results suggest the possibility that lindane should be used as an insecticide with caution in countries where the diet is deficient in protein.