Immunological responses of weanling cotton rats (Sigmodon hispidus) to acute benzene and cyclophosphamide exposure

Journal Article · Sat Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1994 · Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00197372· OSTI ID:35744

McMurry, S T; Lochmiller, R L; Vestey, M R; Qualls, Jr, C W ^[1]

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1. Oklahoma State Univ., Stillwater, OK (United States)

Many environmental contaminants are potent immunotoxicants and capable of altering host resistance to pathogens and compromising overall immunological integrity. Environmental contaminants typically occur as a diverse group of compounds and are difficult to individually identify. The hazardous potential of individual toxicants or limited mixtures in laboratory studies is difficult to correlate with complex multichemical exposures found in situ. Consequently, development of wild mammalian species as bioindicators of environmental contamination may provide an alternative approach to assessing the hazardous potential of immunotoxicants for both human and wildlife populations. Fetal and newborn animals are potentially severely limited in their ability to biotransform xenobiotics and most studies examining effects of exposure to heavy metals or hydrocarbons on immunity use mice and rats 4-6 weeks of age. Cytochrome P-450-catalyzed reaction in rats may reach maximum levels by 30 days of age then slowly decrease to 50-60% of maximum by 600 days of age. Snyder and Kocsis reported on a study which demonstrated that young rats displayed a high rate of benzene metabolism and were more susceptible to benzene toxicity than older rats which had a slower rate of benzene metabolism. However, high levels (about 50-70% for mice and rats) of benzene can be expired unchanged through the lungs and conceivably pose little or no risk of immunosuppression. Studies in our laboratory are directed toward developing sensitive methods to evaluate environmental immunotoxicity hazards to wildlife and risks to humans. The present study was designed to test the sensitivity of selected cell-mediated immune response assays in weanling cotton rats following acute exposure to a monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (benzene) and cyclophosphamide which are known immunotoxicants in laboratory rodents. 25 refs., 2 figs., 1 tab.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• OSTI ID: 35744
• Journal Information: Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, Journal Name: Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 52; ISSN 0007-4861; ISSN BECTA6
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

56 BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
APPLIED STUDIES
BENZENE
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
IMMUNOSUPPRESSION
JUVENILES
RATS