Dehydration and Susceptibility to Toxic Chemicals

Abstract

Deprivation of water for 48 hours increased mortality of rats and mice injected with water soluble compounds of lead, antimony, and methacholine chloride but did not greatly alter susceptibility to lipid soluble trichloroethylene, benzene, and parathion. The brain appeared resistant to prolonged dehydration when tested by the hypothalamic self-stimulation method, Cilia-mucus clearance in chick trachea and the number of free alveolar macrophages recoverable from rat lungs were reduced by 24 to 48 hour water deprivation. In vitro metabolism of hexobarbital by liver microsomal enzymes was affected by water and food deprivation. These animal experiments suggest that dehydration may slier the susceptibility of man to toxic foreign chemicals.