title: Morphological alterations of rat lung bronchiolar epithelium produced by various trialkyl phosphorothioates.
abstract: A single oral administration of O, O, S-trimethyl phosphorothioate (OOS-Me), an impurity in widely used organophosphorus insecticides, causes delayed toxicity (delayed death) which is accompanied by morphological changes in the bronchiolar epithelium of rat lungs. A series of simple O,O-dimethyl and O,O-diethyl S-alkyl phosphorothioate esters, which induce delayed toxicity, were examined for their effect on rat bronchiolar epithelium. The structural analogues synthesized and tested include O, O-dimethyl S-ethyl phosphorothioate, O,O-dimethyl S-isopropyl phosphorothioate, O,O,S-triethyl phosphorothioate, and O,O-diethyl S-methyl phosphorothioate. The present investigation demonstrated that these analogues of OOS-Me which cause delayed toxicity produce body weight loss, accompanied by morphological alterations of terminal bronchiolar epithelium, i.e. loss of the apical bulge of non-ciliated Clara cells. Another impurity which produces delayed toxicity, O,S,S-trimethyl phosphorodithioate, was also capable of producing similar effects at near the LD50 level.
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000818:Animals; D001980:Bronchi / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004848:Epithelium / Q000187:drug effects / Q000648:ultrastructure; D007928:Lethal Dose 50; D008297:Male; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D063086:Organothiophosphates / Q000633:toxicity*; D009946:Organothiophosphorus Compounds / Q000633:toxicity*; D051381:Rats; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
chemical_list: D063086:Organothiophosphates; D009946:Organothiophosphorus Compounds