Hematological and Immunological Changes Due to Short-term Oral Administration of Alphacypermethrin

To evaluate immunotoxicological effects of environmental chemical, subacute toxicity of repeated (28 day) oral administration of Alphacypermethrin in mice was assessed. Forty mice were divided into four different groups with each group containing ten. The group C1 was administered Carboxy methyl cellulose and served as pesticide vehicle control. Group T1, T2 and T3 were given as 1/40^th (low dose), 1/30^th (medium dose) and 1/20^th of LD50 (high dose) of Alphacypermethrin suspended in Carboxy methyl cellulose respectively. The study showed that hematological parameters (monocytes and granulocytes) remained unaffected except lymphocyte which were decreased highly significantly [P≤0.01] in mice of group T2 and T3 on the 28th day of experiment. However, no significant change was seen in serum albumin, serum globulin and serum total protein. Progressive increase in live body weight of mice decreased significantly in extremely toxic group only while spleen:body weight ratio decreased significantly in dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, Alphacypermethrin produced suppressed humoral immune response and the delayed-type hypersensitivity response to Sheep red blood cells (SRBCs) was altered nonsignificantly. The results of this study describe the suppression of immune responses following exposure to Alphacypermethrin in experimental mice.