Differences in the Toxicity of Soman in Various Strains of Mice

Differences in Toxicity of Soman in Various Strains of Mice.Clement, J.G., Hand, B.T. and Shiloff, J.D. (1981). Fundam.Appl. Toxicol. 1:419–420. The acute toxicity of somanwas assessed in eight strains of mice (ALAS, CD® -1, C57BL,CF1®, CFW® C3H, DBA and BALB/c). In fasted animals theLD₅₀ values for soman varied from 98 µg/kg in C57BL miceto 151 µg/kg in BALB/c mice. In general in non-fastedmice the soman LD⁵⁰ was not significantly changed except inALAS strain where the soman LD⁵⁰ value increased significantly.The different sensitivities to soman poisoning among the variousstrains does not appear to be due totally to differences inlevel of brain acetylcholinesterase. Fasting had no significanteffect on the activity of brain acetylcholinesterase and somantoxicity in CD® -1 mice whereas, upon fasting ALAS strainmice for 18 hr, there was a 25% decrease in brain acetylcholinesterasewhich could explain their increased sensitivity to soman however,it is possible that other biochemical changes may also playa role.