Effect of pretreatment with catapres [clonidine hydrochloride] and avil [pheneramine maleate] on acute dimethoate toxicity in rabbits

ABSTRACT

Twenty four male rabbits were used in this study, they were about 4 months oldand their weight ranged between 1.1-1.3 kg. They were divided into 4 equalgroups. Animals of the first group served as control, they were given 75mg/kg [1/4 LD50] of dimethoate orally. The other 3 groups receivedsubcutaneous pretreatment with clonidine [0.35 mg/kg], avil [15 mg/kg] andcombined clonidine and avil before giving dimethoate, respectively. Theeffects of pretreatment and dimethoate were assessed by serial measurements ofserum cholinesterase enzyme activity and observation of the physical signs. It was found that clonidine pretreatment has more protective effect againstacute dimethoate toxicity than that of avil. On the other hand, combinedclonidine and avil pretreatment produced more protective effect than occurredby single drug alone