J Korean Soc Emerg Med.  2000 Jun;11(2):145-150.

Effect of Cyclophosphamide and High Dose Methylprednisolone on Paraquat Poisoned Rats

• Kim UJ
• Chung SP
• Park YS
• Lee MG
• Kim SH
• Lee HS

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Paraquat(PQ) is used widely all over the world for its excellent effect as a herbicide. But its mortality rate is known to be very high, because there is no effective therapeutic modality. Recently, surprising improvement in survival rate was reported using the cyclophosphamide & methylprednisolone pulse therapy in paraquat poisoning. However, this report was not based upon animal study, we designed this experiment to confirm the therapeutic effect.
METHODS
Under the halothane anesthesia, paraquat dichloride 40 mg/kg was injected intraperitoneally to 18 Sprague-Dawley rats. Two hours later, cyclophsphamide 40 mg/kg IP and methylprednisolone 62.5 mg/kg IM were injected in the treatment group(n=9). After 24 hours, we examined serum creatinine levels and pathologic findings of lung stained with hematoxylin-eosin and Masson's trichrome. And 72 hour mortality was compared between 2 groups(5 rats respectively).
RESULTS
There were no statistical differences between the treatment group and control group in serum creatinine level, degree of lung injury, and survival rates.
CONCLUSION
Cyclophosphamide and high dose methylprednisolone combination therapy did not decrease pulmonary toxicity and mortality of paraquat poisoned rats. Further animal studies using various doses and administrative methods of above medications are necessary to demonstrate their effects.

Keyword

Paraquat poisoning; Cyclophosphamide; Methylprednisolone

MeSH Terms

Anesthesia
Animals
Creatinine
Cyclophosphamide*
Halothane
Lung
Lung Injury
Methylprednisolone*
Mortality
Paraquat*
Poisoning
Rats*
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Survival Rate
Creatinine
Cyclophosphamide
Halothane
Methylprednisolone
Paraquat