Farage-Elawar_1988_Pestic.Biochem.Physiol_32_262

Young chickens were administered oral doses of either aldicarb (0.2 mg/kg body wt/day) or carbaryl (100 mg/kg body wt/day) for 7 days as this regimen had been demonstrated, in previous studies, to alter locomotor activities. In addition to histological examination, activities of brain acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and neurotoxic esterase (NTE), liver and plasma cholinesterase (ChE), and carboxylesterase were measured at different intervals after dosing to determine whether these parameters could be used to indicate, predict, or monitor changes in locomotor activity. Effects on enzyme activities following administration of these carbamates were compared in young and adult chickens. Activities of brain AChE, plasma ChE, plasma carboxylesterase, and liver ChE were inhibited in young chicks by both carbaryl and aldicarb, with inhibitions greater after carbaryl treatments. Enzyme activities were not, however, inhibited in adult chickens. Carbamate treatment did not cause histological damage nor did it inhibit activities of NTE and liver carboxylesterase activities either in young or adult chickens. In this study, esterase determinations and histological studies could not be used to predict or support carbamate-induced functional deficits.