The acute oral toxicity of phenacetin

Abstract

Phenacetin given orally in doses of 1 and 2 g per kilogram body weight produced vomiting in cats and dogs. Further toxicity studies were confined to albino rats in which the oral LD 50 ± S.E. was found to be 1.65 ± 0.35 g per kilogram body weight. Clinical signs of intoxication were lethargy, hyporeflexia, ataxia, exophthalmos, dacryorrhea, sialorrhea, bradycardia, hypopnea, hypothermia, anorexia, adipsia, oliguria or anuria, and death due to respiratory failure in marked hypothermia at 22.8 ± 17.7 (mean ± S.D.) hours. Survivors had diarrhea and dark-colored urine. At autopsy there were found a fulminating gastroenteritis, hepatitis, pancreatitis, nephritis, pulmonary edema, capillary and venous congestion of the mesentery, heart, thymus gland, ovaries, lymph nodes, and spleen, and evidence of minor toxic changes in cardiac muscle, skeletal muscle, and the adrenal glands.