Therapeutic efficacy of antidotal treatment of acute poisoning by nerve agents is generally assessed by the evaluation of LD50 values of nerve agents over 24 h following poisoning without or with a single administration of antidotal treatment. In this study, LD50 values of four nerve agents (sarin, soman, tabun and cyclosarin) for non-treated and treated poisoning were evaluated in mice for two experimental end points - 6 h and 24 h. While the efficacy of atropine or oxime-based antidotal treatment was the same regardless of the experimental end point, the therapeutic efficacy of all three newly developed bispyridinium non-oxime compounds (MB408, MB442, and MB444) was mostly slightly higher at the 6 h end point compared to the 24 h end point, although the therapeutic efficacy of MB compounds was not superior to oxime-based antidotal treatment. These results contrast with a study in guinea-pigs using a structurally-related compound, MB327, which showed a striking increase in protection at 6 h compared to 24 h. It is suggested that the disparity may be due to pharmacokinetic differences between the two animal species.

Chemical Biological and Radiological Division Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Salisbury United Kingdom

Department of Toxicology and Military Pharmacy Faculty of Military Health Sciences University of Defence Hradec Kralove Czech Republic

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