THE EFFECT OF ETHANOL AND VARIOUS METABOLITES ON FLUOROACETATE POISONING

¹ Toxicity Laboratory and the Department of Physiology, University of Chicago, Chicago Illinois

1. The LD₅₀ of subcutaneously injected sodium fluoroacetate (1080) for mice is 19.3 mgm./kgm. with fiducial limits (p = 0.01) of 15.8 and 23.7 mgm./kgm.

2. The LD₅₀ of 1080 injected intraperitoneally into guinea pigs is 0.378 mgm./kgm. with fiducial limits of 0.347 and 0.406 mgm./kgm. On a molar basis sodium fluoroacetate and methyl fluoroacetate are equally toxic for guinea pigs.

3. The LD₅₀ of 1080 injected subcutaneously into rabbits is 0.281 mgm./kgm. with fiducial limits of 0.240 and 0.340 mgm./kgm.

4. Mortality among 1080 poisoned mice, guinea pigs, and rabbits can be significantly reduced if about 800 mgm./kgm. of ethanol are administered subcutaneously as a 10 per cent ethanol solution in normal saline within thirty minutes of poisoning. The most striking effects are obtained in mice when the ethanol is given within ten minutes of poisoning.

5. Light pentobarbital anesthesia maintained for eighteen to twenty-four hours significantly reduced mortality among dogs poisoned with 0.10 mgm./kgm. of 1080.

6. The following substances had no significant effect on mortality resulting from 1080 poisoning of mice: citrate, succinate, fumarate, malate, glycerol, pyruvate, glycine or glutamic acid in doses of 500 mgm./kgm. injected subcutaneously; or dinitrophenol in a dose of 5 mgm./kgm.

7. The mechanism of protection against fluoroacetate poisoning by ethanol is discussed.