Toxicity of phosphothion in Rats

The present investigation was carried out to illustrate the effect of repeated administered doses (400 mg/kg/day) of the organophosphorus pesticide phosphothion, for different periods, on some biochemical parameters in rats. This chemical compound inhibited blood and brain acetylcholine esterase (AchE), significantly at all the experimental periods over 30 days. A tendency of recovery was noticed obviously after 15 days with drawal period in both brain and plasma acetylcholine esterase more than that observed in red blood cells. Maximum inhibition of blood acetylcholine esterase was noticed after one hour following phosphothion administration at the level of 400 mg/kg/day. The investigated pesticide also caused disturbances in the amino acids and ammonia levels in brain of rats as compared with the control ones. A tendency of recovery was observed in some instances in brain amino acids but ammonia level was still higher than normal even after the withdrawal period