Clinical, histologic, and histochemical study of imidocarb diproprionate toxicosis in goats

The toxic effects of imidocarb diproprionate (3,3'-bis [2 imidazolin-2yl]-carbanilde diproprionate) were evaluated in adult goats given (intramuscular injection) a lethal dose (6.75 mg/kg). The immediate clinical signs of toxicosis were transient excessive salivation and diarrhea. Anorexia, dyspnea, recumbency, and death occurred between postinjection days (PID) 4 and 8, during which time 7 goats died and 4 moribund goats were euthanatized. There were marked increases in mean serum urea nitrogen concentration and significant increases in serum glutamic oxalacetic transminase activity and in the mean number of circulating neutrophils after PID 4. Renal hyperemia and enlargement were evident by PID1. Serosanguineous fluid in the trachea and major bronchi, pulmonary congestion and edema, hydrothorax, hydroperitoneum, and less frequently hydropericardium were observed on and after day 4. Microscopic renal tubular lesions rapidly progressed from pyknotic epithelial nuclei observed at 6 and 12 hours to acute tubular necrosis of epithelium of the proximal convoluted tubules on days 1 and 2. Pulmonary congestion and edema; hemorrhage into alveoli, bronchioles, and bronchi; and intracytoplasmic lipid vacuoles within the hepatocytes in the periacinar zones of the hepatic lobules were observed on or after day 4. Succinic dehydrogenase and adenosine triphosphatase activities decreased progressively in the epithelial cells of the proximal convoluted tubules. The decreases in cellular enzymatic activity occurred shortly after the appearance of microscopic lesions in the tubular epithelium.