1,3,5-Trinitrobenzene-induced encephalopathy in male Fischer-344 rats

Administration of 1,3,5-trinitrobenzene (TNB) to male Fischer-344 rats produced ataxia after 6 or 7 oral doses (71 mg/kg). Light microscopic examination after 10 days revealed petechial hemorrhages in the brain stem and cerebellum and bilaterally symmetric degeneration and necrosis (malacia) with reactive gliosis in the cerebellar peduncles. The malacia was dorsal and lateral to the fourth ventricle involving the cerebellar nuclei, medial and lateral vestibular nuclei, and inferior colliculi. Blood vessels associated with the lesion had widened Virchow-Robin spaces, occasionally with extravasated erythrocytes. Rats administered daily oral doses of 35.5 mg/kg of TNB for 10 days and 35.5 and 71 mg/kg of TNB for 1 or 4 days did not have brain lesions.