Antagonism of Diisopropyl Fluorophosphate (DFP) Poisoning by Carbamate Pretreatments in House Flies (Musca Domestica L.)

摘要

Carbamates, when administered as a pretreatment before exposure to lethal doses of an organophosphate (OP), can protect an organism from the lethality of the OP. Several mammalian species have been protected from the OP nerve agents sarin soman and DFP by carbamate pretreatments in in vivo studies. The chemical protection afforded by carbamate pretreatments occurs because the enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE) is protected from irreversible binding to the OP by a temporary and reversible binding to the carbamate. Degradation and elimination of the OP during carbamylation of AChE removes the OP toxicant, and eventual decarbamylation of AChE restores the enzyme to normal levels. This report investigates the use of carbamate pretreatments in house flies exposed to lethal doses of DFP, and determines if the protective effect reported in mammals also occurs in the insect. Reprints. (KT)