TREATMENT OF FLUOROACETATE POISONING IN MICE AND DOGS

¹ Department of Pharmacology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

1. Sodium acetate and ethanol acted synergistically to anatgonize 1080 poisoning in mice. The LD₅₀ of 1080 for mice (17.0 mgm./kgm. subcutaneously) was raised 4.6 times by immediate treatment with sodium acetate, 3.1 timesby ethanol, and 12.7 times by a combination of these substances.

2. The beneficial effect of the acetate-ethanol treatment decreased rapidly with increasing time after the administration of 1080 in mice.

3. The oral LD₅₀ of 1080 in dogs was 0.066 mgm./kgm. and the LD₁₀₀ was 0.08 to 0.12 mgm./kgm.

4. In treating 1080 poisoned dogs, ethanol and acetate had some antidotal effect when administered immediately after the 1080 but these agents were of no value as adjuncts to treatment with barbiturates when this treatment was started 30 minutes after poisoning.

5. By the use of barbiturate therapy and by starting treatment 0.5 or 3 hou rs after poisoning, 100 per cent of dogs poisoned orally with approximately 2 x LD₅₀ of 1080 were saved. When treatment was started 0.5 or 3 hours after oral poisoning with approximately 4 x LD₅₀ 80 or 17 per cent of the dogs, respectively, were saved. No dogs survived when barbiturate treatment was instituted 0.5 hour after oral poisoning with approximately 6 x LD₅₀.