Abstract
Rats were intoxicated with lethal doses of acrylonitrile by different routes of application, and the effect of potential antidotes was studied. The cyanide antidotes 4-dimethylaminophenol plus thiosulfate showed some protective effect only after oral but not after i.p. or inhalatory acrylonitrile application. Of the sulfhydryl compounds cysteine, N-acetylcysteine, cysteamine and diethyldithiocarbamate the two antidotes cysteine and, to some lesser extent, N-acetylcysteine proved especially effective. Cysteine, at a dose of 200 mg/kg (i.p.), prevented the lethal effect of 100 mg/kg acrylonitrile (i.p.) even when given 2 h after the acrylonitrile dose. From these experiments a tentative schedule of antidote therapy for humans accidentally intoxicated with acrylonitrile is inferred which will be validated in further studies in subhuman primates.
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