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EVALUATION OF DEVELOPMENTAL NEUROTOXICITY OF ORGANOTINS VIA DRINKING WATER IN RATS: MONOMETHYL TIN
Citation:
MOSER, V. C., STANLEY BARONE, P. PHILLIPS, KATHY L. MCDANIEL, AND K. EHMAN. EVALUATION OF DEVELOPMENTAL NEUROTOXICITY OF ORGANOTINS VIA DRINKING WATER IN RATS: MONOMETHYL TIN. NEUROTOXICOLOGY. Intox Press, Inc, Little Rock, AR, 27:409-420, (2006).
Impact/Purpose:
To elucidate the dose-response characteristics of monomethyltin
Description:
Organotins such as monomethyltin (MMT) are widely used as heat stabilizers in PVC and CPVC piping. Because human exposure to organotins is widespread via drinking water and the health consequences unknown, organotins were listed on the US EPA Candidate Contaminant List. Particular concern for neurotoxicity produced by MMT exposure during development was raised by published findings of a deficit on a runway learning task in rat pups perinatally exposed to MMT (Noland et al., 1982). The objective of these studies was to replicate the earlier publication and further define the dose-response characteristics of MMT. A series of tests was conducted to evaluate neurological and cognitive function in exposed offspring from lactation to adulthood. Learning using a runway as well as a Morris water maze, motor activity, growth and development, and measures of apoptosis was not altered. However, mild neuropathological changes, vacuolation in cerebral cortex, were observed in adults, but not in exposed offspring at younger ages. These results indicate that perinatal exposure to MMT, even at concentrations which decrease fluid intake in the dams, does not result in significant neurobehavioral or cognitive deficits. While mild neuropathological lesions were observed in adults, the biological significance of this restricted finding is unclear.