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Clinical and Pathological Findings Associated with Aerosol Exposure of Macaques to Ricin Toxin

Ricin is a potential bioweapon that could be used against civilian and military personnel. Aerosol exposure is the most likely route of contact to ricin toxin that will result in the most severe toxicity. Early recognition of ricin exposure is essential if specific antidotes are to be applied. Initi...

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Autores principales: Pincus, Seth H., Bhaskaran, Manoj, Brey, Robert N., Didier, Peter J., Doyle-Meyers, Lara A., Roy, Chad J.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4488692/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26067369
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/toxins7062121
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author Pincus, Seth H.
Bhaskaran, Manoj
Brey, Robert N.
Didier, Peter J.
Doyle-Meyers, Lara A.
Roy, Chad J.
author_facet Pincus, Seth H.
Bhaskaran, Manoj
Brey, Robert N.
Didier, Peter J.
Doyle-Meyers, Lara A.
Roy, Chad J.
author_sort Pincus, Seth H.
collection PubMed
description Ricin is a potential bioweapon that could be used against civilian and military personnel. Aerosol exposure is the most likely route of contact to ricin toxin that will result in the most severe toxicity. Early recognition of ricin exposure is essential if specific antidotes are to be applied. Initial diagnosis will most likely be syndromic, i.e., fitting clinical and laboratory signs into a pattern which then will guide the choice of more specific diagnostic assays and therapeutic interventions. We have studied the pathology of ricin toxin in rhesus macaques exposed to lethal and sublethal ricin aerosols. Animals exposed to lethal ricin aerosols were followed clinically using telemetry, by clinical laboratory analyses and by post-mortem examination. Animals exposed to lethal aerosolized ricin developed fever associated with thermal instability, tachycardia, and dyspnea. In the peripheral blood a marked neutrophilia (without immature bands) developed at 24 h. This was accompanied by an increase in monocytes, but depletion of lymphocytes. Red cell indices indicated hemoconcentration, as did serum chemistries, with modest increases in sodium and blood urea nitrogen (BUN). Serum albumin was strikingly decreased. These observations are consistent with the pathological observations of fluid shifts to the lungs, in the form of hemorrhages, inflammatory exudates, and tissue edema. In macaques exposed to sublethal aerosols of ricin, late pathologic consequences included chronic pulmonary fibrosis, likely mediated by M2 macrophages. Early administration of supportive therapy, specific antidotes after exposure or vaccines prior to exposure have the potential to favorably alter this outcome.
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spelling pubmed-44886922015-07-06 Clinical and Pathological Findings Associated with Aerosol Exposure of Macaques to Ricin Toxin Pincus, Seth H. Bhaskaran, Manoj Brey, Robert N. Didier, Peter J. Doyle-Meyers, Lara A. Roy, Chad J. Toxins (Basel) Article Ricin is a potential bioweapon that could be used against civilian and military personnel. Aerosol exposure is the most likely route of contact to ricin toxin that will result in the most severe toxicity. Early recognition of ricin exposure is essential if specific antidotes are to be applied. Initial diagnosis will most likely be syndromic, i.e., fitting clinical and laboratory signs into a pattern which then will guide the choice of more specific diagnostic assays and therapeutic interventions. We have studied the pathology of ricin toxin in rhesus macaques exposed to lethal and sublethal ricin aerosols. Animals exposed to lethal ricin aerosols were followed clinically using telemetry, by clinical laboratory analyses and by post-mortem examination. Animals exposed to lethal aerosolized ricin developed fever associated with thermal instability, tachycardia, and dyspnea. In the peripheral blood a marked neutrophilia (without immature bands) developed at 24 h. This was accompanied by an increase in monocytes, but depletion of lymphocytes. Red cell indices indicated hemoconcentration, as did serum chemistries, with modest increases in sodium and blood urea nitrogen (BUN). Serum albumin was strikingly decreased. These observations are consistent with the pathological observations of fluid shifts to the lungs, in the form of hemorrhages, inflammatory exudates, and tissue edema. In macaques exposed to sublethal aerosols of ricin, late pathologic consequences included chronic pulmonary fibrosis, likely mediated by M2 macrophages. Early administration of supportive therapy, specific antidotes after exposure or vaccines prior to exposure have the potential to favorably alter this outcome. MDPI 2015-06-09 /pmc/articles/PMC4488692/ /pubmed/26067369 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/toxins7062121 Text en © 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Pincus, Seth H.
Bhaskaran, Manoj
Brey, Robert N.
Didier, Peter J.
Doyle-Meyers, Lara A.
Roy, Chad J.
Clinical and Pathological Findings Associated with Aerosol Exposure of Macaques to Ricin Toxin
title Clinical and Pathological Findings Associated with Aerosol Exposure of Macaques to Ricin Toxin
title_full Clinical and Pathological Findings Associated with Aerosol Exposure of Macaques to Ricin Toxin
title_fullStr Clinical and Pathological Findings Associated with Aerosol Exposure of Macaques to Ricin Toxin
title_full_unstemmed Clinical and Pathological Findings Associated with Aerosol Exposure of Macaques to Ricin Toxin
title_short Clinical and Pathological Findings Associated with Aerosol Exposure of Macaques to Ricin Toxin
title_sort clinical and pathological findings associated with aerosol exposure of macaques to ricin toxin
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4488692/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26067369
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/toxins7062121
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