Study of the safety and harmlessness of a disinfectant in laboratory animals

Abstract

The work aimed to investigate the effect of the disinfectant ‘Diolaid’ based on sodium chlorite and sodium chloride on acute toxicity indicators, as well as on blood parameters of laboratory animals. The experiments were carried out on 6-month-old clinically healthy male rats (5 groups, 6 animals in each group, n = 30) and female rats (5 groups, 6 animals in each group, n = 30) weighing 200–220 g. The drug was administered to animals intragastrically (by probe) and aerosol treatment of cells with animals was carried out. Separately we studied the skin-irritating and sensitizing action of the disinfectant ‘Diolaid’ on the groups of clinically healthy guinea pigs and rats weighing 250–300 g by a daily application on their back and sides of different concentrations of the drug for 30 days for 30 min periods. In addition, we tested the effect of ‘Diolaid’ on nonspecific immune response indicators of these animal species (bactericidal activity of blood serum, level of circulating immune complexes, T and B cells, etc.). The work used modern humane methods of care and use of laboratory animals. It was found that after intragastric administration of ‘Diolaid’, the average lethal dose (LD50) for male rats was 182 mg/kg of body weight, and for female rats it was 170 mg/kg. It has been proven that the drug has a temporary irritating and sensitizing effect and does not adversely affect the parameters of hematopoiesis and non-specific immune response in the form of a 0.06% solution. The research results indicate the low toxicity of the ‘Diolaid’ drug for laboratory animals and the possibility of its use in low concentrations both for treating cages in the presence of animals and for treating the animals themselves. For disinfection of water during its storage in containers, we used the concentration of the ‘Diolaid’ drug (by chlorine dioxide) of 0.5–2 mg/l (0.0002–0.0008%), depending on the degree of purity of the water to be treated. Such concentrations ensure compliance of the chlorite residual concentrations with hygienic standards