maneb and Acute-Disease

The dithiocarbamates are considered chemicals of low toxicity. They are known to cause dermatitis, conjunctivitis, rhinitis, pharyngitis, and bronchitis in humans. Central nervous system effects in humans have not been found, but some cases have been reported in experimental animals. This case report concerns a 42-year-old man previously in good health, who sprayed a combined dithiocarbamate of maneb and zineb on a cucumber plantation twice during a week, the second time with a more concentrated solution than the first. Behavioral changes appeared after he walked through the sprayed area following the first application, and loss of consciousness, convulsions, and right hemiparesis with diffuse slow rhythm in the electroencephalogram occurred after the second exposure. Both the behavioral and central nervous system symptomatology disappeared spontaneously after a few days. An electroencephalogram was normal two weeks later. The absence of a positive previous history of the patient, the sudden appearance and spontaneous disappearance of the symptoms, and the apparent dose-response relationship strongly suggested that maneb and zineb were the cause of the illness.

Topics: Acute Disease; Adult; Behavior; Electroencephalography; Hemiplegia; Humans; Male; Maneb; Seizures; Thiocarbamates; Zineb

35S-cysteine incorporation in the protein synthesis of liver and testes is studied in groups of 20 white rats each, following 14--day poisoning with dithiocarbamates, at doses 1/5 LD50, as follows: group one, cineb - o,180 g/kg, maneb - 0,140 g/kg, and mankozeb - 0,260 g/kg. Protein incorporation in liver and testes is studied after decapitation of the animals, within two hours of intraperitoneal 35S-cysteine injection at dose 15 micro C per rat. Liver and testes undergo appropriate treatment after the method of Munro et al./10/, as modified by Sheitanov /9/, and counting is done with VAZ--310. The results point to a varying degree of cysteine incorporation increase in the protein synthesis of liver and testes. It is attributed to a variety of dystrophic and necrobiotic changes in the tissues of either of the organs, taking place under the effect of dithiocarbamate preparations. An enhancement of regenerative processes in the above mentioned organs, associated with intensified protein synthesis, is by no means ruled out. Differences established in the intensity of amino acid incorporation correlate with the degree of protein synthesis disorders, mostly in terms of the effect of maneb preparations.

Topics: Acute Disease; Administration, Oral; Animals; Cysteine; Liver; Male; Maneb; Protein Biosynthesis; Rats; Sulfur Radioisotopes; Testis; Thiocarbamates; Zinc; Zineb