Susceptibility to captan pesticide of albino rats fed from weaning on diets containing various levels of protein

Abstract

Albino rats were fed for 28 days from weaning on diets containing no protein (group I), one-seventh of the optimal protein intake (group II), one-third of the optimal protein (group III), the optimal protein level, as 26% casein (group IV), or three times the optimal protein intake (group V). At the end of the dieting period, the acute oral LD 50 ± SE of captan was found to be (in mg/kg body weight) 6·15 ± 3·1 in group I, 480 ± 110 in group II, 10,670 ± 2800 in group III, 12,600 ± 2100 in group IV and 5320 ± 1420 in group V. The interval to death extended from 5 hr to 7 days, averaged 53 hr, was shorter the higher the dose of captan, and was not consistently influenced by the amount of protein in the diet. Animals in group I were some 2000 times more susceptible to the toxic effects of captan than were controls of group IV, compared with some 12 times for lindane and monuron, eight times for carbaryl, chlorpropham and diazinon and four times for dicophane (DDT). The results indicate that further studies should be made upon captan, which could well be a hazardous pesticide to employ in countries where the diet is low in protein.