Nitrite therapy prevents chlorine gas toxicity in rabbits.

Toxicol Lett

Department of Pathology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham AL 35294, United States; Center for Free Radical Biology and Lung Injury and Repair Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham AL 35294, United States. Electronic address:

Published: April 2017

Chlorine (Cl) gas exposure and toxicity remains a concern in military and industrial sectors. While post-Cl exposure damage to the lungs and other tissues has been documented and major underlying mechanisms elucidated, no targeted therapeutics that are effective when administered post-exposure, and which are amenable to mass-casualty scenarios have been developed. Our recent studies show nitrite administered by intramuscular (IM) injection post-Cl exposure is effective in preventing acute lung injury and improving survival in rodent models. Our goal in this study was to develop a rabbit model of Cl toxicity and test whether nitrite affords protection in a non-rodent model. Exposure of New Zealand White rabbits to Cl gas (600ppm, 45min) caused significant increases in protein and neutrophil accumulation in the airways and ∼35% mortality over 18h. Nitrite administered 30min post Cl exposure by a single IM injection, at 1mg/kg or 10mg/kg, prevented indices of acute lung injury at 6h by up to 50%. Moreover, all rabbits that received nitrite survived over the study period. These data provide further rationale for developing nitrite as post-exposure therapeutic to mitigate against Cl gas exposure injury.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5580399PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.toxlet.2017.02.019DOI Listing

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