Transcriptomic Characterization of Inhalation Phosphine Toxicity in Adult Male Sprague-Dawley Rats.

Phosphine (PH) is a highly toxic, corrosive, flammable, heavier-than-air gas that is a commonly used fumigant. When used as a fumigant, PH can be released from compressed gas tanks or produced from commercially available metal phosphide tablets. Although the mechanism of toxicity is unclear, PH is thought to be a metabolic poison.

Assessment of mustard vesicant lung injury and anti-TNF-α efficacy in rodents using live-animal imaging.

Nitrogen mustard (NM) causes acute lung injury, which progresses to fibrosis. This is associated with a macrophage-dominant inflammatory response and the production of proinflammatory/profibrotic mediators, including tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α). Herein, we refined magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) imaging methodologies to track the progression of NM-induced lung injury in rodents and assess the efficacy of anti-TNF-α antibody in mitigating toxicity.

Two interacting ATPases protect from glycerol and nitric oxide toxicity.

The H37Rv genome has been sequenced and annotated over 20 years ago, yet roughly half of the protein-coding genes still lack a predicted function. We characterized two genes of unknown function, and , for which inconsistent findings regarding their importance for virulence in mice have been reported. We confirmed that a deletion mutant (Δ) was virulent in mice and discovered that Δ suffered from a glycerol-dependent recovery defect on agar plates following mouse infection.

Role of extracellular vesicles in cell-cell communication and inflammation following exposure to pulmonary toxicants.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have emerged as key regulators of cell-cell communication during inflammatory responses to lung injury induced by diverse pulmonary toxicants including cigarette smoke, air pollutants, hyperoxia, acids, and endotoxin. Many lung cell types, including epithelial cells and endothelial cells, as well as infiltrating macrophages generate EVs. EVs appear to function by transporting cargo to recipient cells that, in most instances, promote their inflammatory activity.

The physiology and toxicology of acute inhalation phosphine poisoning in conscious male rats.

Phosphine (PH) is a toxidrome-spanning chemical that is widely used as an insecticide and rodenticide. Exposure to PH causes a host of target organ and systemic effects, including oxidative stress, cardiopulmonary toxicity, seizure-like activity and overall metabolic disturbance. A custom dynamic inhalation gas exposure system was designed for the whole-body exposure of conscious male Sprague-Dawley rats (250-350 g) to PH.

Adverse respiratory effects in rats following inhalation exposure to ammonia: respiratory dynamics and histopathology.

Acute respiratory dynamics and histopathology of the lungs and trachea following inhaled exposure to ammonia were investigated. Respiratory dynamic parameters were collected from male Sprague-Dawley rats (300-350 g) during (20 min) and 24 h (10 min) after inhalation exposure for 20 min to 9000, 20,000, and 23,000 ppm of ammonia in a head-only exposure system. Body weight loss, analysis of blood cells, and lungs and trachea histopathology were assessed 1, 3, and 24 h following inhalation exposure to 20,000 ppm of ammonia.

Differentiated NSC-34 cells as an in vitro cell model for VX.

The US military has placed major emphasis on developing therapeutics against nerve agents (NA). Current efforts are hindered by the lack of effective in vitro cellular models to aid in the preliminary screening of potential candidate drugs/antidotes. The development of an in vitro cellular model to aid in discovering new NA therapeutics would be highly beneficial.