Motor performance effects of propylene glycol dinitrate in the rat

Propylene glycol dinitrate (PGDN), a major constituent of a liquid torpedo propellant, produces incoordination and impairment of balance in humans. This study was conducted to evaluate the rat as a model for PGDN-induced motor performance decrement, and to determine if direct application of PGDN onto neural tissue is a useful alternative to other routes of exposure. PGDN was injected onto the cisterna magna (ic) of adult Sprague-Dawley rats trained on the accelerod, a test of motor performance. Three groups of 13-14 male rats each received a single dose of either 5 or 10 microliters PGDN or 25 microliters sterile saline (control) while anesthetized with halothane. Accelerod performance was measured 12 min after ic injection, then hourly for 6 h, and at 24 h. Injections were evaluated using a five-stage screening criterion to eliminate grossly traumatized subjects, to verify the accuracy of the injection, and to determine the extent of mechanical damage. Eighteen out of 41 subjects passed the five-stage screen. A significant decrease in performance occurred during the first 2 h following injection of 10 microliters PGDN compared to the control and the 5-microliters groups. N significant differences were seen between the 5-microliter and control groups. These data confirm previous findings of PGDN-induced changes in human motor performance, suggesting that the rat may be a useful model for further PGDN neurobehavioral assessment. The data also indicate that ic injection may be an effective alternative to other routes of exposure for materials with appropriate chemical and biological properties if an evaluation screen is used.