Cyanide detoxification in rats exposed to acetonitrile and fed a low protein diet

Different neurological syndromes have been associated with exposure to cyanide. Dietary cyanide exposure from cassava roots combined with a low intake of the sulfur amino acids necessary for cyanide detoxification has been implicated in the causation of konzo, an upper motoneuron disease identified in Africa. We have investigated the effect of a low protein diet on the capacity for cyanide detoxification. Rats were fed normal chow containing 18% protein or a low protein diet with 5% protein. To expose rats to cyanide the drinking water was supplemented with 40 or 80 mM acetonitrile (CH3CN) for up to 4 weeks. Weight gain was monitored and 24-hr urines were collected for analyses of total sulfur, inorganic sulfate, thiocyanate, and 2-aminothiolazine-4-carboxylic acid (ATC). Blood was collected for analyses of cyanide and cyanate. Rats on a normal diet grew throughout the experiment, while those on a low protein diet initially lost weight and then stabilized at a constant weight. Rats exposed to acetonitrile all progressively lost weight, those on a low protein diet at the highest rate. Signs of neurological damage were not observed. Rats not exposed to acetonitrile excreted < 0.2% of sulfur as thiocyanate and those on a low protein diet reduced their total sulfur excretion to one-third that of rats of the normal diet. Rats on the normal diet did not change total sulfur excretion during exposure to acetonitrile, although thiocyanate now contributed more than two-thirds of excreted sulfur. Rats on a low protein diet exposed to acetonitrile increased both total sulfur and thiocyanate excretion to the levels of rats on a normal diet. Rats exposed to acetonitrile had manyfold increases of circulating concentrations of cyanide and cyanate and of urinary excretion of ATC. There was a positive correlation between blood cyanide concentrations and the plasma concentration of cyanate. It is concluded that the rat has a high capacity for detoxification of cyanide. During adaptation to a low protein intake, sulfur is conserved but cyanide detoxification is still possible at the cost of extensive protein catabolism. It is thus possible that subclinical cyanide exposure could interfere with normal growth and development. The observation of a relationship between circulating cyanide on the one hand and circulating cyanate and urinary excretion of ATC on the other highlights the possibility that cyanide metabolites may mediate neurotoxic effects of cyanide.