Early indicators of survival following exposure to mustard gas: protective role of 25(OH)D
Toxicology Letters, Available online 2 March 2016, doi:10.1016/j.toxlet.2016.02.013
Lopa. M. Dasa, Amy. M. Binkoa, Zachary. P. Traylora, Lori. R. Dueslera, Scott. M. Dyndaa, Sara. Debanneb, Kurt. Q. Lua
Skin of mice treated with mustard gas (in DMSO)
Mice having a single vitamin D injection survived much longer
Wonder which other toxic substances vitamin D can also treat
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Highlights
- Skin wound area expansion and weight drop are predictors of death from sulfur mustard exposure and may have translational potential as non-invasive biomarkers.
- Skin exposure to sulfur mustard leads dose-dependent deleterious effects in the skin as well systemic toxicity including precipitous drop in body weight, peripheral blood cytopenia, and decreased bone marrow cellularity.
- Vitamin D is the first drug demonstrated to confer moderate protection from sulfur mustard-induced lethality and may have utility as a chemical countermeasure given its safety profile and current use in clinical practice.
The use of sulfur mustard (SM) as a chemical weapon for warfare has once again assumed center stage, endangering civilian and the military safety. SM causes rapid local skin vesication and late-onset systemic toxicity. Most studies on SM rely on obtaining tissue and blood for characterizing burn pathogenesis and assessment of systemic pathology, respectively. However the present study focuses on developing a non-invasive method to predict mortality from high dose skin SM exposure. We demonstrate that exposure to SM leads to a dose dependent increase in wound area size on the dorsal surface of mice that is accompanied by a progressive loss in body weight loss, blood cytopenia, bone marrow destruction, and death. Thus our model utilizes local skin destruction and systemic outcome measures as variables to predict mortality in a novel skin-based model of tissue injury. Based on our recent work using vitamin D (25(OH)D) as an intervention to treat toxicity from SM-related compounds, we explored the use of 25(OH)D in mitigating the toxic effects of SM. Here we show that 25(OH)D offers protection against SM and is the first known demonstration of an intervention that prevents SM-induced mortality. Furthermore, 25(OH)D represents a safe, novel, and readily translatable potential countermeasure following mass toxic exposure.
Update - Author Lua got $3.9 million NIH grant for further study Sept 2017 NewsMedical NET
No deaths of mice given active vitamin D within 24 hours of getting mustard gas
- Defining the timing of 25(OH)D rescue following nitrogen mustard exposure July 2017
They appeared to not try any fast-acting forms of unactivated vitamin D - inside the cheek, topical, inhaled, etc
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