Abstract
1 The dietary exposure of rats to tributyltin oxide at a concentration of 150 ppm for 6 weeks is known to lead to a significant reduction in relative thymic weight.
2 To determine whether this reduction in thymic weight also leads to an impairment of function sufficient to alter the host response to micro-organisms, we have examined the development of virus- and mycoplasma-induced pneumonia in TBTO-exposed rats.
3 Using a quantitative histopathological method for measuring both the extent and duration of lung lesions in TBTO-exposed rats, no statistically significant increase in the extent or persistence of virus-induced lung lesions was found in rats exposed chronically to TBTO.
4 The susceptibility of rats to Mycoplasma pulmonis infection, alone, or in conjunction with viral pneumonia, was also not increased by dietary exposure to TBTO.
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