Change in gait

It is now well known that most of the OC insecticides have neurotoxic properties and cause adverse effects on the CNS. Poisoned animals and humans show symptoms like tremor, eye jerking, changes in gait, convulsions, paralysis, loss of memory, and death. 

Changes in gait and reflexes indicates malfunctions of the cerebellum (Sturman et al, 1985). (The cerebellum is the part of the brain used to control the coordination of movements of the extremities.) Apparently, taurine serves some unique functions in the nervous system. These findings have prompted food companies to include taurine in their infant formulas and in solutions intended for parenteral feeding. However, whether humans can benefit from taurine in the diet is not clear. 

Male mice exposed for 20 minutes to up to 4000 ppm showed changes in posture, decreased arousal, increased tonic/clonic movements, disturbances in gait, delayed righting reflexes, and increased sensorimotor reactivity. On removal from exposure recovery was rapid. 

The LCso for rats was 8000 ppm for a 4-hour exposure. The LCso for mice was 2 040 ppm for a 7-hour exposure the effect was central nervous system depression. A 20-minute exposure to concentrations ranging from 2000 to 8000 ppm caused neurobehav-ioral effects in mice including gait disturbances, impaired psychomotor coordination, decreased arousal and rearing, and changes in posture. ... 

Wooley, C. M., Sher, R. B., Kale, A., Frankel, W. N., Cox, G. A. and Seburn, K. L. (2005) Gait analysis detects early changes in transgenic SODl(G93A) mice. Muscle Nerve 32, 43-50. 

Dog 100 5 3/4 h/d, 6 d/wk for 11 wk 20 Disturbance of postural and position reflexes and of gait. Histologic changes in cortex, white matter of the cerebral hemispheres, globus pallibus, brain stem 3 mo after exposure. Lewey and Drabkin 1944... 

Acute Kerosene Rat 8,000-12,000 mg/kg, gavage Histopathological changes in kidneys (no change in kidney weight). Neurological effects such as unsteady gait and drowsiness observed at 12,000 mg/m1, but not 8,000 mg/m1. Muralidhara et al. 1982... 

Daily exposure of dogs for 11 weeks to 100 ppm CO resulted in persistent ECG changes as early as 2 weeks and cardiac muscle degeneration at the end of the study observed disturbances in gait and posture were attributed to lesions in the cerebral cortex (Hamilton and Hardy, 1974). Visual disturbances following recovery from a period of CO-induced unconsciousness have also been reported (Kelly and Sophocleus, 1978). Moderate to severe CO poisoning can shorten lifespan because of myocardial injury (Henry et al, 2006). 

---