Anticoagulant Effects of Pindone in the Rabbit and Australian Bushtail Possum.

Abstract

The anticoagulant and toxic effect of the rodenticide pindone were compared in the rabbit and the Australian brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula). Six possums and six rabbits were dosed orally with 25mg kg-1 pindone, and another five possums were dosed with 100mg kg-1 pindone. Blood samples were taken before dosing and 6 days after dosing. In rabbits, the mean haematocrit was reduced from 0.41 to 0.14, the one-stage prothrombin time increased from 7.1 to more than 120 s, and activated partial prothrombin time increased from 26.1 to more than 180 s. These parameters were unchanged in the possums that received 25mg kg-1. In possums that received 100mg kg-1 the one-stage prothrombin time increased from 41.9 to 80.0 s and the activated partial prothrombin time increased from 30.2 to 103.9 s. The haematocrit was unchanged. Half the rabbits died with extensive haemorrhaging within 6 days, but there was no haemorrhaging or mortality in the possums in either dose group.