ABSTRACT
Methomyl is a highly toxic carbamate insecticide which is widely used in many agricultural countries. We have applied the Fourier-transformed infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic method to study the toxicity of methomyl on cytoskeletal protein and the nucleic acid of rat spleen cells. Rats were given methomyl by gavage at 2, 6 and 8 mg/kg in single doses. Colchicine, a microtubule-disrupting agent, was given to rats at 2, 4, and 6 mg/kg in single doses and mitomycin C, an alkylating agent which acts as a DNA-cross-linking agent, was given by an intraperitoneal route to rats at 1 mg/kg. It was shown that the wavenumber of FTIR spectra at amide I and amide II in both methomyl- and colchicine-exposed rats shifted in dose response manner when compared with the control (P < 0.05). The amide I and II shifts in these regions have been proposed to be the result of an alpha-helix protein conformational change. Toxic doses of mitomycin C, a DNA-cross-linking agent, did not result in this pattern. Moreover, all exposed rats showed an increase in the absorbance ratios that were related to the vibrational mode of the phosphodiester group in nucleic acid (P < 0.05).
