Behavioural and biochemical changes produced by repeated oral administration of the insecticide endosulfan in...

In order to study the response of rats to repeated administration of the insecticide, endosulfan during the period of growth to maturity, food intake, body weight gain, Spontaneous Motor Activity (SMA) and Muscle Coordination (MC) were determined at regular intervals in male immature Wistar rats treated with a tolerated dose of (2 mg/kg/day) orally for 90 days. Twenty-four h after the termination of the treatment, organ weight and protein concentrations were determined. The convulsive action of picrotoxin (4 mg/kg, ip) was tested in another endosulfan-treated group. Food consumption and body weight gain decreased parallely. No changes occurred in the body tissues but for liver which was enlarged and its protein, glutamic oxaloacetic transminase and glutamic pyruvic transaminase concentrations increased. The MC was unaffected. A stimulation of SMA occurred several days (75-90) after commencing treatment and these animals responded greatly than control animals to the convulsive action of picrotoxin. These findings indicated that although endosulfan produced anorexia, there were no signs of undernourishment and motor impairment in these animals. Its toxic action were confined chiefly to the liver and central nervous system.