Toxic Effects of Inhaled DMMP (Dimethylmethylphosphonate) on the Kidneys of Fischer-344 Rats

摘要

Dimethylmethylphosphonate (DMMP) is a simple organophosphate used industrially as a flame retardant and to lower viscosity in polyester and epoxy resins. The military considered the use of DMMP as a nerve gas simulant. Since military use of DMMP involved exposure by inhalation, there was a need for a subchronic inhalation exposure to DMMP to fully investigate its toxic potential. Two rats from each group had the left kidney perfused for electron microscopic examination. The cells of the (PCT) were affected by exposure to DMMP at both concentrations. Loss of microvilli, accumulation of cytoplasmic hyaline droplets and intraluminal cellular debris, swelling and loss of organelles, and cell loss were observed in PCT of kidneys from rats exposed to DMMP vapors. Although DMMP is not a hydrocarbon, it somehow triggers the same mechanism of hyaline accumulation as seen in the PCT of male rats with hydrocarbon-induced nephropathy.