OLFACTORY MUCOSAL LESIONS FOLLOWING SUBCUTANEOUS DIETHYLDITHIOCARBAMATE (DDTC)

We found that a single 600mg/kg subcutaneous dose of the chelating age nt diethyldithiocarbamate (DDTC) in rats caused severe damage to the o lfactory epithelium. Damage was characterized by degeneration of the r eceptor cells but sparing of basal cells. This degeneration was charac terized centrally (in the olfactory bulb) by 50% shrinkage of glomerul i. Reactive gliosis, as judged by immunoreactivity for glia I fibrilla ry acidic protein, was prominent in the glomeruli at one week. Glomeru li areas had recovered to control values and gliosis in glomeruli had decreased by five weeks after injection. This recovery corresponds to sparing of the regenerative cells of the olfactory epithelium. We hypo thesize that DDTC may act by disrupting xenobiotic metabolic pathways requiring divalent cations. (C) 1997 Inter Press, Inc.