The protective effect of oxime pretreatment upon the inhalative toxicity of sarin and soman in rats

Abstract The functional set-up of a static inhalation device is described. The closed system consists of a reservoir for the circulating test gas, an inhalator for “nose-only” exposure of 10 rats, and analyzers for the test gas and CO 2 . It has an overall volume of 200 liters. The following LCt50 values for rats exposed to noxious vapors were determined: DFP 3629, sarin 191, and soman 211 mg · min · m −3 . Pretreatment with atropine (10 mg/kg) together with the oximes Toxogonin or HJ6 (each 13 mg/kg) 10 min before the exposure raised the LCt50 of sarin by a factor of 2.5 and 14, respectively. In case of soman poisoning, only HJ6 (50 mg/kg) together with atropine was effective, which increased the LCt50 by a factor of 7.